The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a petition filed by a retired IPS officer who had challenged a Punjab and Haryana High Court order quashing the summoning of Indian National Lok Dal chief Abhay Singh Chautala in a defamation case from 2008.
A Bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma said it was not inclined to interfere with the high court’s decision.
The petition was filed by Param Vir Rathee, a retired IPS officer, who had approached the top court against the high court’s December 19, 2023 order. Rathee had alleged that Chautala made defamatory remarks against him in 2008, which were later published in several newspapers, causing him serious harm and damage to his reputation.
In 2010, a Gurugram court had summoned Chautala in the case. He challenged that order before the additional district and sessions court, which upheld the summons. Chautala then approached the high court, which eventually set aside the order.
The high court noted that during preliminary evidence, Rathee failed to show that Chautala had actually made the alleged defamatory statements. It observed that the complaint did not mention any prior ill-will, malice, or intention to defame, nor was any such motive established in Rathee’s testimony.
"Given the above, it is a fit case for this court to prevent the abuse of the process of law because the allegations made in the complaint and the preliminary evidence do not point out that the public statements allegedly made by the petitioner were made with any malicious intent against the complainant," the high court had said.
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