HC extends relief to Rahul Gandhi from appearance before local court till Jan 25

The Bombay High Court on Monday extended till January 25 2023 the relief granted to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from appearance before a local court in a defamation complaint pertaining to his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra ModiA single bench of Justice Amit Borkar adjourned hearing till January 20 2023 on the plea filed by Gandhi challenging the summons issued to him by the local courtThe interim relief granted earlier shall continue till January 25 2023 Justice Borkar said Gandhis advocate Sudeep Pasbola told the court this is a case where a person is claiming to be defamed by alleged comments made on the prime ministerJustice Borkar said the court would hear the matter on January 20The local court had directed Gandhi to appear before it in a defamation complaint filed by one Mahesh Shrishrimal claiming to be a BJP party workerThe complaint had been filed for Gandhis commanderinthief remark against Prime Minister Modi in 2018 over the Rafale fighter jet dealAlso Read People of Madhya Pradesh gave huge response to yatra despite potholeriddled roads other challenges Rahul Gandhi targets Chouhan govtGandhi later approached the high court challenging the summons issued to himThe HC in November 2021 directed the magistrate to defer hearing on the defamation complaint which meant the Congress leader would not be required to appear before the magistrateThe magistrate had initiated criminal proceedings against Gandhi in August 2019 However the Congress leader in his petition before the HC claimed he learnt about the same only in July 2021The complainants allegation was that in September 2018 Gandhi conducted a rally in Rajasthan where he made defamatory statements against PM ModiDue to the said defamatory statement Modi was allegedly trolled on media by various news channels and social media platformsAs per the complaint four days later Gandhi purportedly commented on a video and posted on his personal Twitter account The sad truth about Indias commander in thiefThe complainant alleged Gandhi was making defamatory statements against PM Modi and by calling him Commander in Thief made a direct allegation of theft against all members of the BJP and Indian citizens connected to ModiGandhi stated in his petition filed through advocate Kushal Mor that the instant complaint was a classic example of a frivolous and vexatious litigation motivated by the sole purpose of furthering the complainants latent political agendaHe also said the complainant had no locus to file the complaint since defamation can be initiated only by the person who has been allegedly defamedThe Congress leader had sought for quashing the magistrates order and a stay on the proceedings pending hearing of the petitionThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever