Gauhati HC dismisses lower court order against Rahul Gandhi in defamation case

In a relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi the Gauhati High Court has quashed a lower court order allowing additional witnesses against the Lok Sabha MP in a nineyearold criminal defamation case filed by one RSS workerIssuing an order in a criminal revision petition a single judge bench of Arun Dev Choudhury on Monday set aside the order by the additional sessions judge of Kamrup Metropolitan allowing more witnesses in the defamation case which was being heard in a trial courtIn a criminal defamation petition by RSS worker Anjan Kumar Bora the trial court magistrate in March 2023 disallowed the listing of three additional witnesses after completion of the process with the recording of statements from six witnessesBora had challenged this and the additional sessions judge of Kamrup Metropolitan had in September allowed admission of the new witnesses against GandhiThe leader of the opposition represented by Senior Advocate Angshuman Bora challenged this order in the Gauhati High Court in July 2024After a series of hearings the court dismissed the additional sessions judges order and asked the trial court to dispose of the case expeditiouslyin the considered opinion of the court in the present case the application filed before the magistrate was wholly vague and bereft of particulars Therefore the magistrate had rightly declined the prayer Justice Choudhury said in his orderThe revisional court however without taking note of the absence of any substantive ground or recording any finding of the necessity of such witnesses mechanically interfered with the reasoned order of the magistrate he addedThe revisional power is limited to correcting jurisdictional or procedural error and it does not empower the session court to substitute its own discretion for that of the magistrate in the absence of any manifest illegalityThe learned additional sessions judge did not consider that the foundation was not laid in the petition seeking the summoning of the witnesses even to arrive at the satisfaction required the HC order notedIt further said that the additional sessions judge ignored the settled proposition of law as discussed and recorded during the case while allowing the revision petition by reversing the order of the magistrateSuch is an arbitrary exercise of discretion resulting in patent illegality which cannot be allowed to stand Accordingly the impugned order dated 22092023 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge No 2 Kamrup M Guwahati in Criminal Revision No 262023 stands set aside and quashed the Gauhati HC saidJustice Choudhury in his order also instructed that as the petitioner Gandhi is a sitting Member of Parliament the trial court magistrate shall take measures to expeditiously dispose of the case which has been going on since 2016On December 12 2015 Gandhi had intended to visit Barpeta Satra Vaishnavite monastery but later claimed that he was barred from entering the abbey by the workers of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh RSSAggrieved by this RSS worker Bora filed the criminal defamation case alleging that the Congress leader had made false statementsThis 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