The Supreme Court on Monday stayed trial court proceedings in Jharkhand against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by a BJP worker for his alleged remarks against Union home minister Amit Shah during the election campaign in 2019.

During one of his public speeches in Chaibasa before the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Rahul had allegedly referred to Shah as a “murderer” and “murder accused”.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta stayed the proceedings as it issued notice to the Jharkhand government and complainant Navin Jha while seeking their response to Rahul’s appeal against Jharkhand High Court’s refusal to quash the criminal trial.

“Issue notice to Jharkhand and complainant... all proceedings in trial shall remain stayed till further orders,” Justice Nath, who headed the bench, said after briefly hearing senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Rahul, and senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Jha.

The court granted four weeks to the respondents to file their replies.

Assailing the orders passed by the Chaibasa trial court and the high court, Singhvi argued that the defamation proceedings should not have continued as the complainant could not claim to be an aggrieved person just because he was a party worker.

Under the defamation law, Singhvi said, the person who claims to have been defamed alone has the right to move court.

Rahul had filed the current appeal against Jharkhand High Court’s February 2024 order rejecting his petition to quash the defamation proceedings against him in the Chaibasa trial court in connection with the complaint. The high court had observed that there was “prima facie” material to prove that Rahul’s alleged remarks were defamatory in nature.

This is the second defamation case linked to Rahul in which the Supreme Court has intervened. Earlier, Rahul was sentenced to two-year imprisonment by a local court in Gujarat, which the high court had declined to stay.

On August 4, 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the Congress leader’s conviction in a defamation case filedby BJP leader Purnesh Modi for Rahul’s “Modi surname” remark at a campaign rally in Karnataka.

“Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi... how come they all have Modi as the common surname? How come all thieves have Modi as their surname?” Rahul had said.

While staying Rahul’s conviction, a bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai had noted that neither the trial court nor Gujarat High Court had given any reason for awarding the maximum sentence of two years prescribed under IPC Sections 499 and 500.

The bench, which also included Justices P.S, Narasimha and Sanjay Kumar, said there was no doubt that Rahul’s remarks were not in good taste and that a public figure was expected to exercise caution while making speeches.

However, the apex court had said the two-year jail term had wide ramifications as it affected not only Rahul’s right to continue as an MP but also the rights of the voters who had elected him.