Karnataka High Court quashes BJP’s defamation case against Rahul Gandhi

In a relief to Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, the High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday (February 17) quashed the criminal proceedings against him in a defamation case filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s State unit. The case was filed for allegedly issuing “defamatory” advertisements in mainstream newspapers against the then BJP government during the campaign for the State Legislative Assembly elections in 2023.

Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav delivered the verdict while allowing a petition filed by Mr. Gandhi, who questioned the legality of the defamation case, in which he has been arraigned as accused number 4. The BJP’s State had lodged the complaint before the magistrate court in June 2023.

The continuance of proceedings against Mr. Gandhi would amount legal abuse, the Court said while dictating the operative portion of the verdict.

The complaint

The BJP had alleged in the complaint that “false, baseless, and reckless” allegations were made under the title ‘Corruption rate card’ in the advertisements issued on May 5, 2023, in all the mainstream newspapers in Karnataka, terming the then BJP government as “40% sarkar” and alleging that the BJP government had “looted over ₹1,50,000 crore from the people of the State during its 2019-2023 regime”.

The advertisements were issued by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress president through D.K. Shivakumar, in his capacity as its president, and by Siddaramaiah, as the then Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, and Mr. Gandhi had put up these “defamatory advertisements” on his ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) account. Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar have also been arraigned as accused.

Rahul’s contention

It has been contended in Mr. Gandhi’s petition that the alleged defamatory advertisements are criticism of the administration of the then BJP government in the State and criticising the administration cannot be brought under the purview of defamation. The criticism made in the contentious advertisements comes under the exemptions provided under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code for making imputation in good faith, it has been claimed in the petition.

It was claimed that a private organisation, the BJP, cannot prosecute a defamation case on behalf of the then constitutional functionaries and public servants as it is only the State that is vested with such a power to initiate defamation proceedings.

“If at all a complaint under Section 499 read with Section 500 can be filed, it can be only by the Karnataka government and not by any other persons. Therefore, the complaint [BJP’s State unit] is not the competent person to file the complaint as the statements alleged to be defamatory is criticism against the then government’s administration and no statement has been made against the complainant/political party.”

Exemption

In June 2023, Mr. Gandhi appeared personally before the Special Court of Magistrate for criminal cases against former and present MPs and MLAs in Bengaluru on the court’s specific direction as he had failed to respond to multiple summons.

In December 2024, the special court, considering his role and duties as LoP, exempted him from personal appearance during the trial of the defamation case by imposing conditions. The proceedings against Mr. Gandhi was stayed by the High Court in January 2025.