NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended its interim order from 11 November last year, granting exemption to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from personal appearance before a Madhya Pradesh trial court in a criminal defamation case filed by Congress MP and lawyer Vivek Tankha.
The two-judge bench, comprising Justice M.M. Sundresh and Justice Rajesh Bindal, also extended the stay on bailable warrants issued against Chouhan and two other BJP leaders—Madhya Pradesh BJP president V.D. Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh. The court scheduled the next hearing for 26 March.
Chouhan had approached the Supreme Court challenging a 25 October order by the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had refused to quash the defamation case against him.
Tankha's complaint, filed in a trial court, alleges that Chouhan, Sharma, and Singh carried out a "coordinated, malicious, false and defamatory" campaign against him during the run-up to the 2021 Panchayat elections in Madhya Pradesh. He claims the BJP leaders falsely accused him of opposing OBC reservations in the elections for political gain.
On 20 January 2024, a special court in Jabalpur decided to examine Tankha’s plea under Section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and summoned the three BJP leaders.