Karnataka HC quashes defamation case filed by BJP against Rahul Gandhi

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the defamation case filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

The state unit of the party had alleged that Gandhi had shared a series of unsubstantiated allegations against the previous BJP-led government on the front pages of mainstream English and Kannada dailies, and also on X ahead of the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections.

A bench headed by Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav allowed Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking quashing of the order passed by the Special Court of Representatives in Bengaluru. “Continuation of the proceedings in the trial court would amount to an abuse of the process of law. Accordingly, the proceedings against the fourth accused, Rahul Gandhi, are set aside”, the high court ordered.

Senior advocate K Shashikaran Shetty, who represented Rahul Gandhi, argued that “The BJP has not submitted any document regarding Rahul’s retweet. There is no information about how many people saw it and whether it was defamation. Why has the BJP, which claims that there were 40 people in the list of star campaigners, not made all of them defendants in the suit? The entire complaint is based on the fact that Rahul is the vice president. However, Rahul was never the vice president at that time. The case of whether retweeting is defamation is pending in the Supreme Court. In the current case, Rahul has not retweeted”.

“The name of the BJP is not mentioned in the advertisement. The government is mentioned in it. The Chief Minister becomes a minister. But the government will always be there. A political party cannot file a suit just to oppose the government. In such a case, criticising the government will become a crime”, he added.

Advocate M Vinod Kumar, who represented the BJP, had said, “Rahul Gandhi’s name was in the list of star campaigners released by the Congress during the assembly elections. Whether the objectionable advertisement has any connection with Rahul Gandhi has to be decided in the inquiry. For anyone who reads the advertisement, it will mean that it was given against the BJP”.

The state BJP unit said that Rahul Gandhi had allegedly defamed the BJP by giving a “baseless, illogical and false advertisement” on the front page of newspapers and had made false allegations. The objectionable advertisement contained numerous falsehoods under the heading “corruption rate list”.

The adversitement alleged Rs 5-15 crore for a post in KSDL; Rs 1-5 crore for an engineer’ post; Rs 50 lakhs-5 crore for a post in BESCOM Rs 1 crore, for a PS post Rs 80 lakhs, for an assistant professor post Rs 50-70 lakhs, for a professor post Rs 30-50 lakh, for a first-class assistant post Rs 30 lakh. Similarly, it was alleged in the defamation case that bribes were fixed for the posts of junior engineer, Bamul, public works junior engineer, constable.

It was alleged that bribe rates were also fixed for the posts of BDA commissioner, KPSC chairman, district deputy commissioner, Superintendent of Police, Vice Chancellor, Assistant Commissioner and tahsildar. It was explained that this was criminal defamation since the accused had said it openly.

The Congress had alleged that a 70 per cent commission was received in the supply and purchase of Covid-related materials. They also alleged that bribes were received in the Public Works Department’s contracts and road construction. It was also mentioned that the 40 per cent commission government had looted Rs 1.50 lakh crore.

The High Court, which reserved the order, said that the term ‘trouble engine government’ has been used as an alternative to the popular ‘double engine government’, thereby reducing the possibility of the BJP’s victory in the elections.

“The photos of DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah were used in this advertisement, both of whom are directly responsible for the fake and false statements”, BJP said. The party further added, “As soon as this advertisement was published, Rahul Gandhi posted it on his X account. It was argued that Rahul Gandhi had instructed to give fake and biased advertisements.” (ANI)