Gehlot’s appeal against the summons in the defamation action against Shekhawat was denied

The former chief minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, was summoned by the magistrate court to appear as an accused in a criminal defamation case filed against him by Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. Shekhawat claimed that Gehlot and his family were connected to a corruption case involving the Sanjeevani Cooperation Credit Society. On Wednesday, a Delhi court refused to stay this order.

While rejecting Gehlot’s appeal, the court noted that the magistrate court’s orders were neither unconstitutional nor improper and that the Congressman’s accusations seemed to be made purely for political purposes.

According to the ruling, neither the contested order dated 06.07.2023 passed in the criminal complaint nor the other two dated 04.03.2023 and 24.03.2023 that have been contested in this revision petition contain any factual errors, illegalities, improper findings, etc., and are therefore likewise upheld. Special Judge MK Nagpal said, “Therefore, this revision petition filed by the petitioner herein is being dismissed.”

Gehlot has gone to the sessions court to contest the rulings made in the criminal defamation case brought by the Union Jal Shakti minister by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Harjeet Singh Jaspal.

Gehlot, according to Shekhawat, leveled unfounded accusations of defamation against him on February 19 and 21, mentioning him and his family members as suspects in the Sanjeevani fraud case.

The court said on Wednesday that Gehlot could not be prosecuted since his remarks were not uttered while performing his official duties.

The court stated, “Although the petitioner made the slanderous statements or imputations while serving as Rajasthan’s chief minister and home minister, it cannot be said that he made them while carrying out his duties in those capacities; rather, they appear to have been made by him in his personal or individual capacity to gain political mileage out of the issue at hand. As a result, his above acts of making these statements or allegations cannot be given an official color.”

The court noted that Shekhawat and his relatives had not been named as suspects or witnesses in any of the four charge sheets that had been filed in connection with the Sanjeevani case, nor had they been called as witnesses or accused during the course of the previous four years of investigation.

Since Shekhawat was purportedly mentioned in one of the complaints received in relation to the scheme, the court rejected Gehlot’s claim that he was presenting the “truth.”

The court stated that the petitioner’s sole motivation for making these accusations and imputations through these remarks appears to have been to gain political advantage by harming the respondent’s reputation and image in the eyes of the public, with an eye toward assembly or parliamentary elections.

After the Bharatiya Janata Party unexpectedly took over the state, Gehlot resigned as chief minister of Rajasthan last week. On Friday, Bhajan Lal Sharma, a new MLA, will take the oath of office as the next chief minister.