Supreme Court asks Shivraj Chouhan, Congress MP Vivek Tankha to amicably settle defamation case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday told Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha to amicably settle the defamation case lodged against the senior BJP leader and two others by the Congress leader.

"Please do not make us hear this case. Let us close it. Both of you sit together and settle this," a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Rajesh Bindal told the leaders.

During the course of a brief hearing, the court asked the senior lawyers Mahesh Jethmalani and Kapil Sibal, appearing for Chouhan and Tankha respectively to sit together and settle the defamation case.

Congress leader Tankha in his defamation complaint has alleged that Chouhan, BJP state president V D Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh carried out a "coordinated, malicious, false and defamatory" campaign against him for political mileage by accusing him of opposing OBC reservation in the 2021 panchayat elections in Madhya Pradesh. 

The allegations were vehemently rejected by Chouhan and others.

The Supreme Court had in March this year extended its November 11, 2024 interim order of granting exemption to Union Agriculture minister, Chouhan from personal appearance before a Madhya Pradesh trial court in connection with the criminal defamation case.

On November 11, 2024, the court had stayed the execution of bailable warrants against them in the defamation case filed by Tankha. 

The matter before the top court arose out of an appeal filed by Chouhan against the October 25, 2024 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court refusing to quash the defamation case against him.

Tankha, in his complaint in the trial court, had said there were defamatory statements made against him in the run-up to Panchayat elections in the state in 2021.

On January 20, 2024, a special court in Jabalpur decided to examine the plea filed by Tankha against the three BJP leaders under Section 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) and summoned them.