RANCHI: In a major relief to former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, the Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday put a month long stay on the non-bailable warrant issued against him by the MP-MLA Court in Chaibasa in connection with a criminal defamation suit filed against him for referring to the then BJP President Amit Shah a “murder accused.” The MP-MLA Court in Chaibasa had ordered Rahul Ganndhi to appear before it physically on March 27.Rahul Gandhi had moved to Jharkhand High Court after the MP-MLA Court had turned down his petition seeking exemption from physical appearance in the case. According to advocate Piyush Chitresh, appearing on behalf of Rahul Gandhi, there was no ground to issue warrant against him in such haste. “The High Court has put a stay for a month on the order issued by Chaibasa MP-MLA Court. We argued before the court that warrant has been issued against Rahul Gandhi without any reason …there were no reason to issue warrant against him in haste and should have been given an opportunity to put his points before the court,” said the advocate.Notably, days after Jharkhand High Court dismissed the petition filed by Gandhi for quashing the proceedings in the trial court in connection with a criminal defamation suit filed against him; the MP-MLA Court in Chaibasa had ordered him to appear before it physically on March 27.Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had filed a petition seeking exemption from physical appearance against the February 27 order passed by the Chaibasa MP-MLA Court which was turned down by the court on March 14. The court upholding its earlier order, asked Rahul Gandhi to appear physically before it on March 27.Rahul Gandhi had made a statement on March 18, 2018 in the AICC Plenary Sessions in New Delhi stating that, “The people of this country will accept a lying Bhartiya Janata Party leadership drunk with power because they know that, what the Bhartiya Janata Party is designed for”. Further, he went on saying that, “They will accept a man accused of murder as the President of Bhartiya Janata Party, but the people will never accept the same in the Congress Party.”These comments prompted a complaint by BJP worker Pratap Kumar at the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Chaibasa. The court took cognizance in the matter in February 2022 and then issued summon against Rahul Gandhi, which was received by his office.According to petitioner’s advocate, when Rahul Gandhi did not appear before the court, a bailable warrant was issued against him in April 2022 by the court, but he did not turn up. Then the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him. Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi is facing three defamation charges in Jharkhand for his defamatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then BJP President Amit Shah. Two cases were filed against him in different courts in Ranchi while the third one was filed in Chaibasa.The first case filed in Ranchi is related to the defamatory statement ‘Sare Modi Chor Hain,’ while the other two cases filed in Ranchi and Chaibasa are related to the defamatory statement made against Amit Shah.
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