Bombay High Court Refuses to Quash Defamation Case Against Rahul Gandhi
3 sources · India
Who reported this
- Scroll.in
- The Indian Express
- Hindustan Times
What the colours mean
- Left
- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
- A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.
Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.
Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.
The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.
Every source for this story reports from India.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to quash a criminal defamation case against Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi. The case stems from remarks made by Gandhi in September 2018 during a rally in Rajasthan regarding the Rafale fighter jet deal, in which he referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as "commander-in-thief" or "choron ke sardar".
A single bench of Justice N R Borkar dismissed Gandhi's petition against a Girgaum magistrate's August 2019 order to proceed with the case. The complaint was filed by M H Shrishrimal, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who alleged that the remarks defamed the Prime Minister and, by extension, all members of the BJP and Indian citizens connected to him. Gandhi's legal counsel argued that the complaint was frivolous and that the complainant lacked the locus standi to file it because he was not an aggrieved party.
Justice Borkar stated that the court found no perversity or illegality in the magistrate's order. The court noted that because the BJP is a registered national political party, it is a clearly identifiable body. The bench observed that it cannot be said at this stage that the comments were limited only to the senior leadership of the party, and the actual impact of the imputation will be considered during the trial. However, the High Court continued a 2021 order directing the magistrate to defer the hearing for six weeks to allow Gandhi to approach the Supreme Court in appeal.
How each side framed it
- Left
- The left lean outlet provided broader political context by mentioning the "chowkidar chor hai" campaign slogan and the specific allegations regarding the Rafale deal.
- Centre
- The center lean outlet focused primarily on the legal outcome and the court's refusal to quash the case.
- Centre-right
- The center-right lean outlet emphasized the specific phrasing of the insult and the complainant's claim that the remarks targeted all BJP members.
Sources
- Centre-right Hindustan Times: Complaint for remarks against PM Modi: Bombay high court refuses to quash 2019 summons to Rahul Gandhi
- Left Scroll.in: Bombay HC refuses to quash defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for ‘choron ke sardar’ comment
- Centre The Indian Express: Bombay High Court refuses to quash defamation case against Rahul over PM jibe
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.