The Madhya Pradesh High Court has closed the criminal defamation proceedings initiated against Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi after he expressed regret over remarks made during the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election campaign that were alleged to have defamed Kartikeya Singh Chouhan, son of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and current Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agarwal passed the order on Thursday on a petition filed by Gandhi, challenging the December 13, 2024 order of the Special MP/MLA Court in Bhopal, which had taken cognisance of an offence punishable under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and issued summons directing the Congress leader to appear before the trial court.
Kartikeya had filed a defamation complaint against Gandhi, alleging that during an election rally at Jhabua in October 2018, the Congress leader had falsely linked his name to the Panama Papers controversy, thereby causing serious damage to his reputation and lowering his standing in the eyes of the public.
Gandhi filed an interlocutory application before the High Court under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNS), 2023, stating that the reference to Kartikeya Singh Chouhan had been made inadvertently.
He submitted that immediately after discovering the error, he had publicly clarified on October 30, 2018, that he had intended to refer to the son of the then Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh in connection with media reports surrounding the Panama Papers disclosures and not Kartikeya Singh Chouhan or his father. Gandhi further stated that he continued to stand by that clarification and formally expressed regret over the erroneous reference while seeking voluntary closure of the proceedings.
The Senior Counsel appearing for Gandhi submitted that the regret expressed by the petitioner had been accepted by the respondent. The counsel representing Chouhan informed the Court that, in light of Gandhi’s clarification and expression of regret, the complainant had no objection if the proceedings pending before both the High Court and the trial court were brought to an end.
Taking note of the statements made by both parties, the High Court observed that the petitioner had expressed regret through the interlocutory application and that the respondent had accepted the same in his written reply.
Considering the submissions advanced by both sides, the Court ordered closure of the proceedings pending before it and further directed that the criminal complaint pending before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Special Judge (MP & MLA), Bhopal, registered as Complaint Case No. SCPPM 03/2018, shall also stand closed.
The dispute originated from Rahul Gandhi’s speech during the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election campaign, in which he referred to the Panama Papers while criticising political leaders. Kartikeya Singh Chouhan alleged that Gandhi’s statement wrongly suggested that his name had figured in the Panama Papers leaks, creating an impression that he was involved in financial wrongdoing.
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