HC asks Mumbai court to defer hearing on defamation complaint against Rahul

The Bombay High Court on Monday directed a local court to defer hearing on a defamation complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi beyond December 20 which means the Congress leader would not be required to appear before the latter on November 25 as instructed earlierGandhi was directed by the local court to appear before it on November 25 in the defamation complaint filed by one Mahesh Shrishrimal who claims to be a BJP memberThe complaint against the Congress leader had been filed for his alleged commanderinthief remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 over the Rafale fighter jet dealGandhi had approached the HC challenging the summons issued to him in the caseOn Monday when the Congress MPs plea came up for hearing before a single bench of Justice S K Shinde advocate Rohan Mahadik appearing for Shrishrimal sought time to file a reply in form of an affidavitGandhis advocate Sudeep Pasbola said they do not have an objection if time is granted for filing the reply but then the proceedings before the magistrate cannot go onThe HC then adjourned hearing on the petition till December 16 while directing Shrishrimal to file his affidavitIn the meanwhile the Metropolitan Magistrate shall defer proceedings into the complaint beyond December 20 Justice Shinde saidThe magistrate had initiated criminal proceedings against Gandhi in August 2019 However the Congress leader in his petition before the HC had claimed he learnt about the same only in July 2021The allegations of the complainant were that in September 2018 Gandhi had conducted a rally in Rajasthan during which defamatory statements were made against the Prime MinisterDue to the said defamatory statements Modi was allegedly trolled by various news channels and social media platformsAs per the complaint four days later Gandhi purportedly commented on a video and posted it on his personal Twitter account saying The sad truth about Indias commanderinthiefThe complainant alleged that Gandhi was making defamatory statements against Modi and by calling him commanderinthief he made 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 agendaIt further said the complainant had no locus to file the complaint suit defamation can be initiated only by the person who has been allegedly defamedThe Congress leader had sought quashing of the order of the magistrate 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