The Jharkhand high court has dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking dropping of criminal proceedings against him in a defamation case.
Naveen Jha, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker, filed the case against Gandhi in 2018 for his allegedly defamatory remarks against Union home minister Amit Shah.
Justice Ambuj Nath dismissed Gandhi’s plea on Wednesday but the order was uploaded on the high court website on Friday.
Gandhi challenged the legality, correctness and propriety of an order setting aside a lower court’s July 2018 ruling dismissing Jha’s petition against Gandhi. Justice Nath said he did not find any illegality in the order.
Gandhi’s lawyer, Kaushik Sarkhel, said they were yet to decide the further legal course of action.
Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership was restored in August last year days after the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in another criminal defamation case filed in Gujarat.
Gandhi approached the top court, challenging the Gujarat high court order that refused to put on hold his conviction and the two-year jail term.