Karnataka High Court quashes BJP's defamation case against Rahul Gandhi over 2023 'corruption rate card' ads

It was argued on behalf of Rahul Gandhi that there is no prima facie material placed to prove the charges against the accused persons.

Bengaluru: In a relief to Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the Lok Sabha, the Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the proceedings against him in a defamation case filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in connection with newspaper advertisements issued on May 5, 2023, with the title ‘corruption rate card’ against the then ruling BJP government.

Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav allowed the petition filed by Rahul Gandhi observing that continuation of proceedings against the petitioner would amount to abuse of process of law.

The complaint had stated that the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and three accused, Rahul Gandhi, CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had conspired and planned to defame the BJP by levelling false allegations through the advertisement. The advertisement, which appeared on May 5, 2023, in all mainstream newspapers, made fanciful, baseless, foundation less and irrational allegations against the BJP, the complaint said. The special court for cases involving elected representatives had directed for registering the criminal case against the accused persons and the KPCC for the offence under IPC section 499 of IPC, punishable under IPC section 500.

Challenging the proceedings, it was argued on behalf of Rahul Gandhi that there is no prima facie material placed to prove the charges. It was submitted that the complainant had failed to produce any documentary evidence to show that Rahul Gandhi had circulated the advertisement in his Twitter handle, except the bare pleading in the complaint that Rahul Gandhi had given instructions to issue the advertisements.