On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to entertain a petition filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (Telangana) seeking revival of criminal defamation proceedings against Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. The matter arose from remarks allegedly made by Reddy suggesting that if the BJP were to secure 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, it would move to abolish reservations for SCs, STs, and OBCs.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai, along with Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Atul S. Chandurkar, took up the challenge to the Telangana High Court’s decision quashing the complaint. The complaint had originally been filed by BJP State General Secretary, Karam Venkateshwarlau.
At the outset, CJI Gavai tersely remarked, “Dismissed.” When Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the petitioners, sought to press the matter further, the CJI reiterated that “courts cannot be converted into political battlegrounds.” He added, “If you are in politics, you should have a thick skin. Dismissed.”
The Telangana High Court, while quashing the criminal complaint, had reasoned that any remarks were directed against the BJP as a national political entity and not against BJP (Telangana) specifically. It held that under Section 199(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the complainant could not qualify as a ‘person aggrieved.’ The Court further noted that political speeches are often rhetorical and exaggerated, and the bar for sustaining a defamation complaint under Section 199 CrPC in such cases is significantly higher.
The complaint had earlier led the trial court to summon Revanth Reddy under multiple provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including Sections 120A, 124A, 153, 153A, 153B, 171C, 171G, 499, 505, and 511, as well as Section 125 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951. Reddy successfully challenged the proceedings before the High Court, which ordered their quashing.
By affirming the High Court’s view, the Apex Court has underscored its consistent position that political controversies cannot be settled through criminal litigation under the guise of defamation.
Picture Source : https://d2e1hu1ktur9ur.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/CM-Revanth-Reddy.jpg
