New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed further proceedings in a defamation case before a trial court in Maharashtra against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Aparesh Kumar Singh issued notices to the Maharashtra government and the complainant, M H Shrishrimal, seeking their responses in four weeks.
“Issue notice returnable in four weeks. Further proceedings before the trial court shall remain stayed,” the bench ordered on a plea filed by Gandhi against a September 8 order of the Bombay High Court refusing to quash summons to him.
The bench issued notice to the Maharashtra government and the complainant, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Mahesh Shrishrimal, and posted the matter for hearing after four weeks.
“In the meantime, further proceedings before the trial court shall remain stayed,” the court order said.
The case stems from a private complaint filed by Shrishrimal, alleging that Gandhi made defamatory remarks against PM Modi during a public rally in Rajasthan on September 20 that year, including the statement, “Hindustan ka chowkidar chor hai”.
Shrishrimal, who sought action to initiate a case under criminal defamation (section 500) of the Indian Penal Code, also alleged that Gandhi, while commenting on a video posted on his personal “X” account (formerly Twitter) on September 24, 2018, referred to the prime minister as “Commander in Thief”. He argued that the remarks amounted to allegations of theft against Modi as well as BJP members and other Indian citizens associated with him.
The Girgaon magistrate court initiated proceedings against Gandhi in 2019, following which he approached the high court. His petition, filed in November 2021, denied the allegations and sought quashing of the proceedings.
Justice N. R. Borkar of the High Court rejected Gandhi’s argument that the BJP was not an identifiable body. “On a prima facie reading of the statement, describing the PM, who is a member of the BJP, as a “commander in chief”, cannot be said to be limited only to the senior leadership of the party. Whether the imputation was in substance and what impact it will have on members of the party will have to be considered at the stage of trial,” the judge said while upholding the magisterial court order.
