Photo: Sidheeq / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, October 13, put on hold a criminal defamation trial against Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over remarks he allegedly made in 2018 calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “commander-in-thief” in connection with the Rafale fighter jet deal.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Aparesh Kumar Singh passed the interim order on Gandhi’s appeal against a September 8 ruling of the Bombay High Court, which had refused to cancel the summons issued to him. “Issue notice returnable in four weeks. Further proceedings before the trial court shall remain stayed,” the bench said. Notices went to the Maharashtra government and to the complainant, BJP member Mahesh Shrishrimal.
What the case is about
Shrishrimal’s complaint centres on a speech Gandhi gave at a rally in Rajasthan on September 20, 2018, where he used the slogan “chowkidar chor hai” (the watchman is a thief), and a social media post that followed in which he allegedly described the Prime Minister as “commander-in-thief”. The remarks were part of his attack on the government over the Rafale fighter jet deal.
The complainant argued that the remarks did not just target Modi but also imputed theft to BJP members and others linked to him, and that he was personally aggrieved as a party member. He sought Gandhi’s prosecution under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with criminal defamation.
A magistrate’s court in Girgaon, Mumbai, issued process against Gandhi on August 28, 2019. He challenged the summons in the Bombay High Court in 2021 and won interim relief that kept the trial on hold while his petition was pending.
Why the High Court refused to step in
Rejecting his plea last month, Justice N.R. Borkar held that the BJP could be treated as an identifiable group for a defamation complaint. On a first reading, the High Court said, the statement described the Prime Minister, also the most prominent face of the party, as engaged in theft while leading thieves, so it could not be said at that early stage that the remark was incapable of extending to people closely identified with the party. Whether the words hurt only Modi or other BJP members too was a question for the trial court, it added. It gave Gandhi six weeks to approach the Supreme Court.
Appearing for Gandhi on Tuesday, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi pointed to earlier Supreme Court judgments, said the law on the issue was settled, and argued that the proceedings were not maintainable.
What happens next
The trial in Mumbai stays frozen until the Supreme Court hears the matter again after four weeks, once Maharashtra and the complainant have filed their replies. Gandhi’s side will press its argument that the case cannot be maintained.
The interim relief comes in a busy week for the Congress leader, who led the INDIA bloc’s march in Delhi on Monday against the Chief Election Commissioner over the revision of voter rolls.
