Jharkhand MP MLA court summons Rahul Gandhi in defamation case on June 11
The summon comes three months after the Jharkhand high court dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s petition challenging criminal proceedings in the case
An MP MLA special court in Jharkhand on Tuesday summoned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) youth wing leader Naveen Jha and asked him to appear before the court on June 11.
The summon comes three months after the Jharkhand high court dismissed Gandhi’s petition challenging criminal proceedings in the case.
Vinod Sahu, advocate of Jha, who is a state working committee member of the BJP’s youth wing, said the summon was issued after a prayer was made for issuance of a non-bailable warrant (NBW).
“We have prayed for NBW. On which the MP MLA special court of Sarthak Sharma issued summons. Rahul Gandhi has been asked to appear before the court on June 11 after the election,” Sahu said.
Sahu said Jha had knocked the court’s door after Gandhi in the Congress plenary session on March 18, 2018, made a speech against BJP stating that “the people of this country will accept a lying Bharatiya Janata Party leadership drunk with power because they know what the Bharatiya Janata Party is designed for”.
Gandhi further said “they will accept a man accused of murder as the President of Bharatiya Janata Party, but the people will never accept the same in the Congress Party’’.
Gandhi’s advocate Kaushik Sarkhel said, “Once the summon reaches us, we will pray for the dispensation of personal appearance of Rahul Gandhi. Earlier in two cases of similar nature, the court had given dispensation of personal appearance.”
A high court advocate familiar with the case said ups and downs are taking place in the case.
“After Jha filed defamation case against Rahul Gandhi on March 18, 2018 and criminal proceedings started against him from MP MLA court, Gandhi challenged the same before SDJM court of Ajay Kumar Guria. Guria gave order in favour of Rahul and dismissed Jha’s case on July 7, 2018. Jha then challenged Guria’s order before the court of judicial commissioner Navaneet Kumar, who gave order in favour of Jha and set aside Guria’s order. After Navaneet Kumar set aside Guria’s order, on November 28, 2018 MP MLA court again started criminal proceedings. Rahul then challenged Navaneet Kumar’s order before the Jharkhand high court in December 2018. Jharkhand HC directed a no-coercive step but after Covid, finally on February 21, 2024 dismissed Rahul’s petition. Now again a summon has been issued,” the advocate said.
