New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) Congress MP Vivek Tankha has decided to withdraw a criminal and civil defamation case lodged against Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and both have settled their dispute, the Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday.
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and NK Singh was informed by senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani that both the leaders had met in Parliament and Tankha decided to withdraw the case lodged against Chouhan.
Tankha was represented in the case by senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Sumeer Sodhi.
Jethmalani said Sibal had helped in the issue being resolved.
The bench recorded the statement that criminal as well as civil defamation suit will be withdrawn by Tankha and disposed of the matter while appreciating lawyers of both sides.
It observed that in matters related to statements made by politicians, the court has to tread very carefully.
Tankha, in his complaint in the trial court, said defamatory statements were made in the run-up to panchayat elections in Madhya Pradesh in 2021.
He alleged that following the December 17, 2021 order of the apex court, it was alleged by the BJP leaders that he had opposed the reservation for OBC community in the local body polls which caused damage to his reputation.
Tankha’s plea sought Rs 10 crore compensation and initiation of criminal defamation proceedings against the BJP leaders also including V D Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh.
The matter reached apex court in 2024 after the Madhya Pradesh High Court refused to quash the proceedings against the BJP leaders and issued bailable warrants against them.
On November 11, 2024, the top court had stayed the execution of bailable warrants against the BJP leaders and sought response of Tankha.
Jethmalani had earlier contended that the purported statements mentioned in the complaint by Tankha were made on the floor of the house and were covered by Article 194(2) of the Constitution.
Article 194 (2) states, “No member of the Legislature of a State shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in the Legislature or any committee thereof, and no person shall be so liable in respect of the publication by or under the authority of a House of such a Legislature of any report, paper, votes or proceedings.” On October 25, 2024 the high court had refused to quash the defamation case lodged by Tankha against Chouhan, BJP leaders V D Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh (MLA in MP assembly).
The complaint of Tankha said the three BJP functionaries carried out a “coordinated, malicious, false and defamatory” campaign against him for political mileage, accusing him of opposing OBC reservation in the Panchayat election in the Supreme Court.
The BJP leaders had refuted the charges in the high court and contended that newspaper clippings annexed by Tankha, cannot become the basis of a defamation complaint and the trial court could not have taken its cognisance of the complaint.
They said the entire material placed on record by Tankha did not suggest any insinuation, let alone defamation, as alleged.
The BJP leaders contended all of them were holding a public office at the time of incident and the trial court erred in taking cognisance of the complaint without a prior sanction of the competent authority.
On January 20, 2024, a special court in Jabalpur agreed to examine the defamation case against the three BJP leaders under Section 500 of IPC and summoned them. PTI MNL ZMN
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