The Madhya Pradesh High Court has lifted interim protection granted to TMC leader and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee in a defamation case. Justice Pramod Kumar Agarwal dismissed his plea, withdrawing the stay on the arrest warrant issued by the Bhopal MP-MLA court.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has removed the interim protection granted to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee in connection with an arrest warrant issued against him in a defamation case pending before a special MP-MLA court in Bhopal.
The order, passed by a single bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agarwal on Wednesday, resulted in the dismissal of Banerjee’s plea challenging the warrant. With the dismissal of the petition, the stay earlier granted on the execution of the arrest warrant has also been withdrawn, allowing the Bhopal court’s order to take effect.
The development comes at a time when Abhishek Banerjee, who serves as the national general secretary of the TMC and is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, is already facing scrutiny in connection with investigations being conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in alleged corruption-related matters.
The defamation case against Banerjee was initiated by former Indore MLA Akash Vijayvargiya, son of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and minister Kailash Vijayvargiya. The complaint was filed before the MP-MLA court in Bhopal in 2021.
The case relates to remarks allegedly made by Abhishek Banerjee during a political rally held in Kolkata in November 2020. According to the complaint, Banerjee referred to Akash Vijayvargiya as a “goon” during his address, following which Vijayvargiya approached the court alleging that the statement damaged his reputation.
After examining the matter, the special MP-MLA court in Bhopal issued an arrest warrant against Abhishek Banerjee. The TMC leader subsequently moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court seeking relief against the execution of the warrant.
In his plea before the High Court, Banerjee argued that as a sitting Member of Parliament, there was no possibility of him avoiding the legal process or absconding. Considering the submissions, the High Court had earlier granted interim protection on November 12, 2025, and stayed the execution of the arrest warrant.
However, during Wednesday’s hearing, no representative appeared on behalf of Abhishek Banerjee to argue the matter. Taking note of the absence, Justice Agarwal observed that the circumstances indicated that the petitioner appeared to have lost interest in pursuing the petition.
Following this observation, the High Court dismissed the plea, lifted the interim stay on the arrest warrant, and directed that a copy of the order be forwarded to the concerned Bhopal court for further action.
The lifting of the stay has reopened the possibility of the warrant being enforced against the TMC leader, adding another legal challenge to his ongoing political and investigative concerns.
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