The Jharkhand high court on Thursday stayed Chaibasa lower court’s proceedings in the matter involving “defamatory” statement by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against Union home minister Amit Shah till June 13, lawyerrs close to the matter said.
A high court lawyer familiar with the case said the order came from the bench of justice Rajesh Kumar.
“The high court not only stayed proceedings but also asked the complainant of the case to file a reply within two weeks. It can be seen as relief for the Congress leader Gandhi during election time as the trial court had issued a non-bailable warrant against Gandhi and did not give exemption from his physical presence in the case. High court advocates Piyush Chitresh and Dipankar Rai argued on behalf of Rahul Gandhi,” the high court lawyer said.
Gandhi’s advocate Piyush Chitresh confirmed the development.
“Yes, today the court stayed a non-bailable warrant issued from the lower court in Chaibasa against Rahul Gandhi in the case involving Gandhi’s ‘defamatory’ remarks against Amit Shah. Apart from this, the court also stayed the lower court proceedings in the matter and directed the informant of this case to file his reply in the matter. When the statement was given, Shah, who is right now the union home minister, was BJP national president,” he said.
Another high court advocate said, “The case arose in the year 2018 when Gandhi said in a Congress session that any murderer can become the president only in BJP, but it is not so in Congress and BJP leader Pratap Katiyar filed a case of defamation in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Chaibasa. Later, the case was transferred to the MP/MLA court in Chaibasa. In the case, in April 2022,
Chaibasa MP/MLA Court had issued a bailable warrant against Rahul Gandhi. On which no cognizance was taken by him. After this, on February 27, 2024, the court issued a non-bailable warrant against Gandhi. Gandhi’s lawyer sought exemption from physical presence but the court rejected his application and issued an order for physical presence.”
Katiyar’s lawyer Vinod Sahu confirmed the court development, saying that “the court has asked us to file a reply and stayed proceedings till June 13”.
On February 27 this year, the high court stayed a non-bailable warrant issued against Gandhi by the Chaibasa civil court.
A high court advocate familiar with this order said that “the order came as a big relief for the Congress leader as he was expected to physically appear in court on March 27.”
“Gandhi had filed a petition in the high court after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him. Advocates Piyush Chitresh and Dipankar Rai argued on Gandhi’s behalf in the court of Justice Rajesh Kumar,” the advocate said.
Gandhi’s advocate Piyush Chitresh confirmed the order. “Warrant stayed for a month,” he said, confirming the fact.
“The special MP-MLA Court in Chaibasa has ordered top Congress leader and Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi to appear physically in the Chaibasa MP-MLA court on March 27 in a six-year-old defamation case for a ‘humiliating’ comment made about India’s Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018,” an advocate familiar with the development said.
“The defamation case was filed by Pratap Katiyaar against Rahul Gandhi on July 27, 2018, for commenting that ‘a murderer can become party president only in BJP’ in his speech at the Congress plenary session in Delhi in 2018,” the advocate said.
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