New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday halted criminal proceedings against Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case in a Jharkhand court over his alleged murder remark against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
During one of his public speeches in Chaibasa in Jharkhand before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi had allegedly referred to Shah as a “murderer”. Following such remarks, Naveen Jha, a BJP worker, had filed a case against Gandhi in 2019.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta in the apex court was hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Rahul Gandhi challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s order. The HC had junked his plea to quash the defamation case.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Rahul Gandhi. He said there were several judgments which showed that only the aggrieved person could file a criminal defamation complaint. The lawyer argued that such a complaint cannot be filed by a proxy party.
The court granted four weeks-time to Navin Jha, and the Jharkhand government to respond to the statement put forth by Rahul’s counsel.
