Don't subject union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to bailable warrant in defamation case: SC
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the execution of bailable warrant against Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and two other BJP leaders in a defamation case filed by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti sought Tankha's response on a plea of Chouhan and others challenging the October 25 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court refusing to quash the defamation case.
The bench said, "The execution of bailable warrants against the petitioners shall not be executed subject to their effective participation in the proceedings before the court in the case."
Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Chouhan and others, said the purported statements mentioned in the complaint by Tankha were made on the floor of the house and were covered by Article 194 (2) of the Constitution.
Article 194 (2) states, "No member of the Legislature of a State shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in the Legislature or any committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of a House of such a Legislature of any report, paper, votes or proceedings."
Jethmalani submitted it was unheard of that in a summons case, a bailable warrant was issued by the court, when the parties could appear through their counsel.
On October 25, the high court had refused to quash the defamation case lodged by Tankha against former Madhya Pradesh CM Chouhan, BJP state president V D Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh.
Tankha, in his complaint in the trial court, said defamatory statements were made in the run-up to Panchayat elections in the state in 2021.
On January 20, 2024, a special court in Jabalpur registered the defamation case against the three BJP leaders under IPC Section 500, summoning them in court.
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Nitish Kumar's son Nishant among 32 to take oath as Bihar ministers
Patna (PTI): In a major expansion of the Cabinet of Bihar's first BJP-led government, JD(U) supremo Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar and 31 others took oath as ministers on Thursday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Altogether 32 leaders, drawn from all constituents of the five-party NDA in the state, were administered the oath of office by Governor Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain at a grand ceremony that was also attended by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Health Minister J P Nadda and BJP president Nitin Nabin.
Prominent inductees included Nishant Kumar, the son of JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, who stepped down as chief minister last month to enter the Rajya Sabha.
The BJP, which is the single largest party in the 243-member assembly with 89 MLAs, has 15 ministers, who took oath on Thursday.
Most of the inductees were those who were part of the Nitish Kumar cabinet formed in November last year after the NDA stormed back to power in the assembly polls.
The JD(U) is represented by a total of 15 ministers, 13 of whom took the oath at the Gandhi Maidan on Thursday. Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Bijendra Prasad Yadav had taken oath in April along with Samrat Choudhary and were designated as deputy chief ministers.
Sanjay Kumar Singh and Sanjay Kumar Paswan, both from the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) headed by Union minister Chirag Paswan, are back as ministers, and so are Santosh Kumar Suman and Deepak Prakash, sons of Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi of the Hindustani Awam Morcha and Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, respectively.
