A Delhi court on Tuesday rejected a defamation suit filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rajeev Chandrashekhar against Congress Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor.
In his complaint, Chandrashekhar claimed that during a televised interview in 2024, ahead of the Parliamentary elections, Tharoor allegedly accused Chandrashekhar of bribing voters in Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal of Rouse Avenue Courts observed that there was no such imputation in the media interview given by Tharoor.
The proposed accused could not been seen to impute that Dr Chandrashekhar bribed any voter. The proposed accused did not even mention that his opposition candidate had bribed the voters, noted the ACJM.
Tharoor’s interview of April 6, 2024 was shown out of context in the morning news of 3:45 minutes by the channel, he added.
After having a look at the remaining interview of 23 minutes, the court found that the proposed accused in his entire interview never made any imputation against the complainant.
In 2024, the trial court had taken cognisance of allegations under Sections 500 (defamation) and 171G (false statement to influence election) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Tharoor.
Chandrashekhar claimed in his petition that Tharoor’s statements, which were widely circulated on social media and various news channels, led to the tarnishing of his reputation and contributed to his defeat in the elections.
The post Lok Sabha elections 2024: Delhi court dismisses defamation suit against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor appeared first on India Legal.