Karnataka High Court quashes BJP’s defamation case against Rahul Gandhi
In a relief to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, the Karnataka High Court quashed the criminal investigation in the defamation case filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on February 17. The case was filed for allegedly publishing ‘defamatory’ advertisements in mainstream newspapers against the then BJP government in Karnataka during the campaign for the 2023 State Legislative Assembly elections.
Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav gave the order while allowing the petition filed by Mr. Gandhi questioning the legality of the defamation case in which he is being tried as accused no.4. The State unit of the BJP had filed the complaint in the magistrate court in June 2023.
While dictating the factual part of the judgment, the court stated that continuation of the proceedings against Mr Gandhi would amount to legal abuse.
Complaint
In its complaint, the BJP had alleged that ‘false, baseless and reckless’ allegations were made under the heading ‘Corruption tariff’ in advertisements published in all mainstream newspapers in Karnataka on May 5, 2023, calling the then BJP government a ‘40% sarkar’ and claiming that the BJP government had ‘looted more than Rs 1,50,000 crore from the people of the State during corruption’. 2019-2023 regime’.
The notices were issued by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee through DK Shivakumar in his capacity as president and Siddaramaiah, the then Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly. Mr Gandhi had posted these ‘defamatory advertisements’ on his account ‘X’ (formerly Twitter). Mr. Siddaramaiah and Mr. Shivakumar were also produced before the court as accused.
Rahul’s claim
Mr. Gandhi’s petition has argued that the allegedly defamatory advertisements were criticism of the rule of the then BJP government in Karnataka and criticizing the administration cannot be considered defamation. The petition claimed that the criticisms made in the contentious advertisements fell within the exemptions provided for bona fide imputation under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.
It was alleged that the BJP, being a private organisation, could not file a defamation suit on behalf of the then constitutional officers and public servants as only the State had the authority to initiate the defamation suit.
“If a complaint under Section 499 can be read along with Section 500, it can be filed only by the government of Karnataka and not by any other person. Therefore, the complaint [BJP’s State unit] “It is not the competent authority to make the complaint since the alleged slanderous statements were criticisms of the government administration of the period and no statement was made against the complainant/political party.”
Exemption
In June 2023, Mr. Gandhi appeared before the Special Magistrate’s Court in Bengaluru for criminal cases against former and current MPs and MLAs under a specific direction of the court for failing to respond to multiple summons.
In December 2024, the special court exempted him from personally appearing at the hearing of the defamation case, considering his duties and roles as Leader of the Opposition, but imposed certain conditions. The cases against Mr Gandhi were stayed by the Karnataka High Court in January 2025.
It was published – 17 February 2026 13:38 IST
