Jharkhand High Court has adjourned Rahul Gandhi’s petition challenging criminal proceedings in the Chaibasa MP-MLA court over alleged defamatory remarks against Amit Shah. The matter will be heard again after two weeks.
Ranchi: August 25, the Jharkhand High Court postponed the hearing of a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The petition challenges the criminal proceedings pending against him in the MP-MLA special court at Chaibasa, West Singhbhum.
The case was filed in connection with an alleged defamatory statement Gandhi made in 2018 during an election rally in Chaibasa.
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The complainant, Pratap Kumar, moved the magistrate’s court in Chaibasa claiming that Gandhi’s comments were aimed at tarnishing the reputation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Kumar alleged that the words used were not only defamatory but also spoken “purposely to malign the stature of Shah.”
The Jharkhand High Court has now adjourned the matter and fixed the next hearing for two weeks later.
Earlier this month, on August 6, Gandhi personally appeared before the MP-MLA court in Chaibasa where he was granted bail in the case. His lawyers had submitted before the court that Gandhi had consistently complied with the legal process.
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“The case was initially registered in Ranchi and was transferred to Chaibasa in 2021. We had filed a petition for exemption from personal appearance before the high court… and we are here as per the high court’s direction,”
Gandhi’s counsel had said, stressing that the proceedings had already gone through multiple stages before reaching the present hearing.
On June 2 this year, Gandhi had approached the Jharkhand High Court against the special MP-MLA court’s order directing him to personally appear before it on June 26. His petition argues that such repeated personal appearances cause unnecessary hardship and are not legally justified.
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The matter will now come up again before the Jharkhand High Court after a fortnight, where Gandhi’s plea against the Chaibasa proceedings will be taken up for further consideration.
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