Supreme Court stays defamation proceedings against Rahul Gandhi for remarks on Amit Shah
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stayed criminal defamation proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who was booked for calling Union Home Minister Amit Shah a "murder accused."
A Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta issued notice to the Jharkhand government and the complainant, BJP leader Navin Jha, seeking their responses to Gandhi's plea for quashing the case. The Court also ordered a stay on the trial proceedings until further notice.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Gandhi, argued that the defamation complaint was filed by a third party, which is not permissible under law. Singhvi contended, "If you are not the person aggrieved, how can you have a proxy filing of complaint?"
The case stems from a speech delivered by Gandhi on March 18, 2018, wherein he criticised the BJP and alleged that its leadership accepted a "murder accused" as its president. Following the speech, Jha filed a complaint, which was initially dismissed by a Ranchi magistrate court.
Jha then moved a revision petition before the Judicial Commissioner in Ranchi, who overturned the dismissal on September 15, 2018, and directed the magistrate to reconsider the evidence. Subsequently, on November 28, 2018, the magistrate concluded that there was sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie case under s. 500 of the IPC, which penalises defamation. Gandhi was then summoned to appear in court.
Gandhi's challenge to this order before the Jharkhand High Court was dismissed by single-judge Justice Ambuj Nath. The High Court observed that Gandhi's remarks suggested that BJP leaders were deceitful, intoxicated with power, and willing to accept a "murder accused" as their leader. The Court held that these statements were prima facie defamatory under s. 499 of the IPC.
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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