The Jharkhand High Court on March 20 stayed the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by a local court in a criminal defamation case for calling Union Home Minister Amit Shah a murder accused. (Rahul Gandhi vs. State).
A special court in Chaibasa had issued a non-bailable warrant against Gandhi on February 27 after he failed to appear and attend the hearing. Gandhi moved the High Court against this order.
single judge justice Rajesh Kumar Said that since the offense is bailable, the warrant could be stayed so that Gandhi could attend the hearing.
The court directed“In view of the fact that this is a bailable offence, the impugned order dated 27.02.2024 is kept in abeyance for one month to enable the petitioner to attend the proceedings in the court below. If the petitioner attends the proceedings takes over, the trial court is directed to proceed accordingly and pass a fresh order in accordance with law, without being affected by its earlier order or the order of this Court.”
Pratap Katiyar, a resident of Chaibasa, had filed a complaint alleging that Gandhi had made derogatory remarks on Amit Shah during a Congress conference in 2018.
In his statements, Gandhi had accused Amit Shah of being involved in the murder.
He was later granted interim protection in the case in May 2022.
However, the court issued a warrant against him on February 27 after he did not appear before the court.
Gandhi's lawyer told the high court that he was willing to participate in the trial and there was some misunderstanding as interim protection was earlier granted, but it was later vacated in May 2023.
After considering the arguments, the court considered it appropriate to keep the order of the special court in abeyance for a month.
Advocates Kaushik Sarkhel, Dipankar and Shrey Mishra appeared for Rahul Gandhi.
Advocate Anish Kumar Mishra appeared for the defendant.
last month The High Court had rejected Gandhi's petition in which He had demanded quashing of the criminal defamation case.
The court had said that Gandhi had said that BJP leaders were liars who were intoxicated with power and that BJP workers would accept a person accused of murder as their president.
The court had said that these statements of Gandhi were prima facie defamatory under section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
(read order)
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Remarks about Amit Shah: Jharkhand High Court stays warrant against Rahul Gandhi