SC to hear April 16 pleas challenging law on appointment of CEC/ECs
Bhushan told the bench that the petitioner NGOs would not take long in presenting its arguments.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended its December 18, 2024, interim order exempting Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from personal appearance before a trial court in connection with a criminal defamation case lodged against him and two other BJP leaders of Madhya Pradesh by Congress Rajya Sabha member and lawyer Vivek Tankha.
Extending the exemption to Shivraj Singh Chauhan and others from personally appearing before the trial court, a bench of Justice MM Sundresh and Justice Rajesh Bindal said that it would further hear the case on March 26.
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The top court by its November 11, 2024, order had said, “In the meantime, subject to the petitioners’ effective participation with counsel as may be needed, before the concerned Court, they need not be subjected to bailable warrants.”
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However, in the subsequent December 18, 2024, hearing of the matter, the top court had ordered, “Since notice was already issued on 11.11.2024, the participation of the petitioners is permitted in the pending proceedings before the Magistrate’s Court at Jabalpur, through their respective counsel.”
The top court was hearing an appeal by Shivraj Singh Chouhan against the October 25, 2024, Madhya Pradesh High Court order refusing to quash the defamation case against him.
Besides Chauhan, the other two BJP leaders facing criminal defamation case include Madhya Pradesh State BJP president V D Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh.
Congress leader Vivek Tankha in his complaint claimed that Union Minister Chauhan, Sharma, and Singh allegedly carried out a “coordinated, malicious, false and defamatory” campaign against him for political mileage, accusing him of opposing OBC reservation in the 2021 Panchayat election in Madhya Pradesh.
On January 20, 2024, a special court in Jabalpur decided to examine the plea by Vivek Tankha against the three BJP leaders under Section 500 (Punishment for Defamation) of the (Indian Penal Code) and summoned them.
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