The Madhya Pradesh High Court has restored a petition filed by All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) leader and Member of Parliament Abhishek Banerjee, challenging an arrest warrant issued against him in a criminal defamation case, and has directed that the execution of the warrant shall remain stayed pending further consideration of the matter.
The order was passed by the single-judge Bench of Justice Pramod Kumar on Wednesday, allowing an application seeking restoration of Banerjee’s petition after it had earlier been dismissed on June 17. At that stage, the High Court had vacated the interim protection granted to the AITC leader, observing that neither Banerjee nor his counsel had remained present on multiple occasions and noting that he appeared to have lost interest in prosecuting the proceedings.
Upon restoration of the matter, the Court revived the petition and extended protection against coercive action by directing that the execution of the arrest warrant issued by the Special MP/MLA Court in Bhopal would not continue until further orders.
The proceedings arise out of a criminal defamation complaint instituted by BJP leader Akash Vijayvargiya, son of Union Minister and senior BJP functionary Kailash Vijayvargiya. The complaint alleged that Banerjee made defamatory remarks during a public meeting in Kolkata in 2020, where he allegedly referred to Akash Vijayvargiya in a manner that harmed his reputation and lowered his standing in public life.
Acting on the complaint, the Special Court designated to hear cases involving Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assemblies had initiated proceedings and subsequently issued an arrest warrant against Banerjee. Aggrieved by the issuance of the warrant and the continuation of the criminal proceedings, Banerjee approached the High Court seeking judicial intervention.
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