SC stays criminal defamation proceedings against Rahul Gandhi in Jharkhand

Supreme Court stays criminal defamation proceedings against Rahul Gandhi for alleged remarks against Amit Shah, citing breach of judgments.

The Supreme Court on Monday (January 20, 2025) stayed criminal defamation proceedings against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued notice to the private complaint, a BJP worker, Navin Jha, who had filed the defamation complaint, and directed him to file a counter affidavit in four weeks.

Appearing for Mr. Gandhi, senior advocate A.M. Singhvi and advocate Prasanna S., argued that the defamation proceedings were in breach of at least seven Supreme Court judgments which have held that criminal action cannot commence on the basis of a proxy complaint.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Mr. Jha on caveat, agreed to file his response to the appeal filed by the Congress leader.

The defamation complaint had alleged that Mr. Gandhi had referred to Mr. Shah as a “murderer” in a speech at Chaibasa ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Jharkhand High Court had refused to quash the criminal case in the trial court after finding the Congress leader’s remarks prima facie defamatory. The High Court had justified that the remarks insinuated that the BJP workers had accepted persons with alleged criminal antecedents as their leaders.

“This imputation is prima facie defamatory in nature,” the High Court had said.