Bengaluru: In a significant relief for Rahul Gandhi, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, the Karnataka high court Thursday granted an interim stay on a defamation case filed by BJP over a controversial ‘corruption rate card’ advertisement in the run up to the May 2023 assembly elections.
Justice M Nagaprasanna ordered issuance of an emergent notice to BJP, represented by its state secretary Keshava Prasad, the complainant, and adjourned hearing to Feb 20. Besides Rahul, chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar are also arraigned as accused in the case.
Advocate-General Shashikiran Shetty represented Rahul in the capacity of a senior advocate during the brief hearing. In his petition, Rahul claimed that proceedings against him were a clear abuse of the process of law. He argued that the prosecution has not placed any prima facie material to prove the charges, nor has the complainant produced documentary evidence to show that he (Rahul) circulated the alleged advertisement on his Twitter handle.
“The statement alleged to be defamatory is criticism of the then govt’s administration. It cannot be brought under the purview of defamation,” he argued.
Rahul contended that advertisement does not name him and that imputations are against the then state govt and not against the respondent political party, i.e., BJP. “Therefore, only the state govt could have filed any complaint as an aggrieved party,” he said.
BJP alleges that Congress functionaries put out false advertisements against BJP, the governing party at that time, and its chief minister Basavaraj Bommai. The special court directed the registration of a criminal case against the four accused including the KPCC, for the offence under section 499 of IPC and punishable under section 500 of IPC.
Courtesy : TOI
Note: This news is originally published on timesofindia.com and is used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes, especially for human rights.
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