Supreme Court quashes defamation complaint against Tejashwi Yadav

Representational Picture/iStock

The Supreme Court Tuesday quashed the defamation complaint against Rashtriya Janatat Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav over his alleged "only Gujaratis can be thugs" remark after he agreed to withdraw the statement.

A bench of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan granted the relief to the former Bihar deputy chief minister on his plea seeking to transfer the defamation trial to a court outside Gujarat, newswire PTI reported.

"We have quashed the case in view of petitioner withdrawing his statement on record. Accordingly disposed of," the bench said.

The top court on February 5 had reserved its order on a plea filed by Tejaswani Yadav seeking transfer of the criminal defamation complaint pending against him in a Ahmedabad court over his alleged "only Gujaratis can be thugs" remark to a place outside the state, preferably Delhi.

The apex court on January 29 had directed Yadav to file a "proper statement" withdrawing his alleged remark that "only Gujaratis can be thugs".

Yadav on January 19 filed an affidavit in the apex court withdrawing his alleged "Gujarati thugs" remark.

The top court, while hearing the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader's plea, had earlier stayed the proceedings in the criminal defamation complaint and issued notice to the Gujarat resident who had filed it.

The complaint against Yadav was filed for alleged criminal defamation, the PTI news report said.

The Gujarat court had in August conducted a preliminary inquiry against Tejaswani Yadav under section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and found sufficient grounds to summon him on the complaint filed by Haresh Mehta, a local businessman and activist.

According to the complaint, Yadav, while talking to the media in Patna in March 2023, had said, "Only Gujaratis can be thugs in the present situation, and their fraud will be forgiven."

"Who will be responsible if they run away with the money belonging to the LIC or banks?" the then Bihar deputy chief minister had allegedly said.

Mehta claimed Yadav's comments defamed all Gujaratis. (With inputs from PTI)