Supreme Court denies BJP MP Manoj Tiwari’s request to dismiss a defamation case

The Supreme Court dismissed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Tiwari’s challenge to the summons issued to him in a criminal defamation case filed by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday.

The defamation case against BJP lawmaker Vijender Gupta was dismissed by a bench of justices SA Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian.

The BJP leaders challenged a trial court order summoning them and others as defendants in a criminal defamation case on November 28, 2019. Sisodia also filed a complaint against BJP leaders Hans Raj Hans Pravesh Verma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Harish Khurana, in addition to Tiwari and Gupta. The trial court issued summonses to all of them in 2019.

Sisodia filed the defamation complaint in response to their remarks at a press conference accusing him of misappropriating public funds worth 2,000 crore in the name of constructing classrooms in Delhi government schools.

On November 28, 2019, a Delhi court summoned them to stand trial in defamation proceedings under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The Delhi High Court refused to hear BJP leaders’ petitions to stay the summoning order in December 2020. The high court ruled that “sufficient grounds exist to proceed” against the BJP leaders.

Tiwari and Gupta filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, arguing that their statements were not defamatory. They claimed that the trial court’s summoning order was illegal because it was based on legally inadmissible evidence, and that a prior sanction was required before prosecuting them.