The Madhya Pradesh High Court has closed defamation procedures initiated against Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi by Union Minister and Former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son Kartikey Singh Chauhan.
Kartikey Singh Chauhan had filed the defamation complaint before a trial court after Gandhi allegedly linked him to the Panama Papers controversy in 2018.Justice Pramod Kumar Agrawal closed the proceedings on June 25 after Gandhi expressed regret over his statement and said that soon after publication of the alleged defamatory statement, he had issued a clarification.The Court also took into account Kartikey Singh Chauhan’s statement that he would not like to escalate the matter further after Gandhi’s regret.
“Considering the statement of applicant mentioned in I.A. No. 14821/2026 and the reply filed to the aforesaid IA as well as arguments advanced by learned counsel for both the sides wherein regret has been expressed by applicant, the proceedings before this Court are closed and proceedings pending before the JMFC, Special Judge (MP & MLA) complaint case no. SCPPM No. 03/2018 Bhopal shall also stand closed,” the Court ordered.
Gandhi had made the alleged statement during the campaigning for 2018 Assembly Elections in Madhya Pradesh. He later clarified that he intended to refer to the son of the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and not Madhya Pradesh.
Agarwal in his order noted the submission by senior counsel appearing for Gandhi that he has expressed his regret which has been accepted on behalf of the respondent (Singh) in written reply and the respondent had also agreed if the proceedings can be closed before both trial court and High Court. The counsel appearing for Singh submitted that Gandhi had through his application clarified and expressed regret and in the light of such statement further proceedings before the High Court as well as trial Court be closed.
It was alleged that Gandhi had during the election rally wrongly claimed that Kartikey Singh's name appeared in the Panama Papers leaks. In BJP Leader's Defamation Case Thereafter before the high court, Gandhi moved an application wherein he said, "That the applicant on October 29th, 2018, during the then ongoing Assembly Election campaign, made the allegedly defamatory statement in Jhabua, wherein a reference was made to so-called Panama Papers.
Upon discovering that Respondent's name erroneously appeared in the said statement, on the very next day — i.e. on October 30th, 2018 — the applicant clarified in public that who he had intended to refer to was the son of the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh as having been named in the widely reported Panama Papers controversy and not the Respondent or his father, the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. The applicant, thus, express his regret. The applicant stands by the said public clarification and look forward to voluntary cessation of proceedings". The high court thus closed the proceedings.
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