The Madhya Pradesh High Court has closed the defamation proceedings against Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi initiated at the instance of Union Minister and former Chief Minister’s son Kartikey Singh Chauhan over Gandhi’s alleged defamatory statements surrounding the Panama Papers controversy. The High Court took note of the fact that he had expressed his regret.

The applicant had approached the High Court by filing a petition under Section 528 of the BNSS, challenging the order passed by the Trial Court taking cognizance of the offence punishable under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and summoning the applicant.

The Single Bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agrawal held, “Applicant has expressed his regret for alleged defamatory statement mentioned in paragraphs 2 of I.A. No. 14821/2026 and the respondent has filed reply to the said I.A. in which it is mentioned that in view of the regret expressed by the applicant, the proceedings before this Court and trial Court be closed.”



Senior Advocate Vivek Krishna Tankha represented the Petitioner while Advocate Sankalp Kochar represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The applicant had moved an application for bringing on record his statement wherein it was mentioned that the applicant on October 29, 2018, during the then ongoing Assembly Election campaign, made the allegedly defamatory statement in Jhabua, wherein a reference was made to so-called Panama Papers. Upon discovering that the respondent’s name erroneously appeared in the said statement, on the very next day, the applicant clarified in public that who he had intended to refer to was the son of the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh as having been named in the widely reported Panama Papers controversy and not the respondent or his father, the then Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. The applicant had expressed his regret. It was further mentioned in the application that he stood by the said public clarification and looked forward to the voluntary cessation of proceedings. The applicant thus sought the closing of the case and the dropping of the proceedings against him.

Reasoning

The Bench noted that the applicant had filed the petition under Section 528 of BNSS, challenging the order passed by the Trial Court whereby cognizance of the offence under Section 500 of IPC had been taken.

The Bench took note of the fact that the applicant had expressed his regret for the alleged defamatory statement and the respondent had filed a reply to the said application in which it was mentioned that, in view of the regret expressed by the applicant, the proceedings before the High Court and Trial Court should be closed.

Thus, considering the statement of the applicant, whereby he had expressed his regret and the reply filed to the aforesaid application, the Bench closed the proceedings before the High Court as well as the proceedings before the JMFC, Special Judge (MP & MLA).

Cause Title: Rahul Gandhi v. Kartikey Singh Chauhan (Neutral Citation: 2026:MPHC-JBP:44938)

Appearance

Petitioner: Senior Advocates Vivek Krishna Tankha, Ajay Gupta, Advocates Aishwarya Sahu, Rajeev Mishra

Respondent: Advocate Sankalp Kochar

Click here to read/download Order


Madhya Pradesh High CourtJustice Pramod Kumar Agarwal

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.