The special MP-MLA court in Chaibasa had ordered the Congress leader to appear physically in the court on March 27 in a six-year-old defamation case while rejecting his plea filed on March 14 to appear through a pleader
Ranchi: In a relief to the former Congress president, the Jharkhand high court on Wednesday stayed a non-bailable warrant issued against Rahul Gandhi by Chaibasa civil court on February 27 this year in a defamation case, officials familiar with the order said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (Representative Photo)
Gandhi’s advocate Piyush Chitrest confirmed the order. “Warrant stayed for a month,” he said.
A high court advocate familiar with this matter said the order came as a big relief for the Congress leader as he was expected to physically appear before the court on March 27.
“Gandhi had filed a petition in the high court after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. Advocate Piyush Chitresh and Dipankar Rai argued on Gandhi’s behalf in the court of Justice Rajesh Kumar,” the advocate said.
The special MP-MLA court in Chaibasa had ordered the Congress leader to appear physically in the court on March 27 in a six-year-old defamation case while rejecting his plea filed on March 14 to appear through a pleader.
The defamation case filed by BJP’s youth wing vice president Pratap Katiyar involves comments made by Gandhi during a Congress convention in New Delhi against Amit Shah in 2018 in which he allegedly called Shah a “murderer”. Now the Union home minister, at that time, Shah was the BJP’s national national president.