Court rejects Rane’s appeal in defamation case filed by Raut

The case relates to Rane’s comments during a speech at the Konkan Festival in Bhandup on January 15, 2023, where he allegedly questioned the legitimacy of Raut’s candidature in the 2004 Lok Sabha election

MUMBAI: The sessions court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Narayan Rane, who had sought to quash the summons issued to him in a defamation case filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut.

Sanjay Raut (HT PHOTO)

The case relates to Rane’s comments during a speech at the Konkan Festival in Bhandup on January 15, 2023, where he allegedly questioned the legitimacy of Raut’s candidature in the 2004 Lok Sabha election. Raut’s name was not in the voters’ list at the time and he had “made a setting and spent money for the same”, the BJP MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg had allegedly said, which according to Raut was defamatory and damaging to his reputation.

In an order dated April 23 this year, the judicial magistrate first class at Mazgaon court had held that a prima facie case under section 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code had been made out. Raut had submitted supporting materials including newspaper clippings, a pen drive, and a photo album, which captured the allegedly defamatory remarks, the magistrate had observed. The remarks “were made only to tarnish the image of the complainant in the eyes of the general public”, and they had been communicated widely through print and electronic media, the court had said while issuing summons to Rane.

In his revision plea before the sessions court, Rane contended that the magistrate’s order was “illegal, perverse and bad in law”, and argued that the complaint was politically motivated and filed with an “oblique motive”. He submitted that the remarks were part of political discourse between long-standing rivals and there was no intention to cause reputational harm.

Rane also pointed to a significant delay in filing the complaint, noting that while the speech was delivered on January 15, 2023, the complaint was filed nearly three months later, on April 9. The delay indicated the complaint was an afterthought, he argued.

Rane further contended that as he was a union minister at the time, the magistrate’s court lacked jurisdiction to issue summons against him.

However, the sessions court found no merit in Rane’s arguments and upheld the magistrate’s April 2025 order, thereby clearing the way for trial proceedings to continue.