Rahul Gandhi defamation case: J’khand HC reserves order on quashing petition
The complaint case was filed by Navin Jha with Ranchi court on April 28, 2018, against the statement Rahul Gandhi made at the plenary session of his party on March 18, 2018.
RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court on Tuesday reserved its order after hearing arguments in a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, seeking quashing of an order passed by a Ranchi district court in connection with a defamation case filed by a BJP worker for allegedly passing a derogatory remark against union home minister Amit Shah.
The complaint case was filed by Navin Jha with Ranchi court on April 28, 2018, against the statement Rahul Gandhi made at the plenary session of his party on March 18, 2018.
In his complaint, Jha had claimed that Gandhi made a false and defamatory remark against Shah stating that “people of this country will accept a lying BJP leadership because the people know what the BJP is designed for.” “They will accept a man accused of murder as the president of the BJP, but the people would never accept the same in the Congress party,” he further went on to say, the petitioner alleged.
The complaint was dismissed by the sub judicial magistrate on July 7, 2018. However, Ranchi judicial commissioner on September 15, 2018, had allowed the revision petition, directing the magistrate to take back the case with a direction to re-appreciate the evidence on record and pass an order afresh on the point of determining prima facie material to proceed in the matter. Considering the order, the magistrate on November 28, 2018, took cognisance in the matter and issued summons.
Gandhi had then filed a petition, seeking quashing of the revision order of the Ranchi judicial commissioner of September 15, 2018. The matter came up for hearing on Tuesday before the single bench of justice Ambuj Nath that reserved its order.
“The court reserved its order after closing arguments from both sides. We have contested the petition arguing that the petitioner cannot be considered an aggrieved person in the matter, and he has no locus standi to file the defamation case. We have also raised other points related to the facts raised in the petition and cited several judgements from the past in defense,” said Deepankar Roy, counsel of Rahul Gandhi.
“The petitioner’s lawyer argued that being a BJP worker Jha was an “identifiable person” and well within his rights to file the defamation case. The court reserved its order directing both the parties to file a short synopsis of the case by Wednesday,” Roy added.
