Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan has got relief in the defamation case. The civil and criminal defamation cases filed against him will now be closed. Congress Rajya Sabha MP and senior lawyer Vivek Tankha had filed a defamation case against Shivraj Singh Chauhan. On Tuesday, February 3, the Supreme Court was told that a settlement had been reached between the two parties.
The bench of Justice MM Sundaresh and Justice NK Singh has disposed of the petition of Shivraj Singh Chauhan, taking on record the mutual agreement reached between the two parties. Shivraj Singh Chauhan had reached the Supreme Court to get the defamation case registered against him canceled. In July last year, the Supreme Court had advised both the parties to try to resolve the matter through mutual consent.
The matter is related to the Panchayat elections of Madhya Pradesh held in 2021. In those days, Vivek Tankha had appeared in the Supreme Court as a senior lawyer in a case related to OBC reservation in Panchayat elections. The then Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan had given some statements regarding this. Tankha had alleged that Shivraj blamed him for the ban on Panchayat elections. To do this he misrepresented the interim orders of the Supreme Court.
Tankha said that these statements damaged his image. He had to face public criticism. Based on this, he filed civil and criminal defamation cases. Demanded a compensation of Rs 10 crore in the civil case. At the same time, in the criminal complaint, action was demanded under Section 500 of the IPC.
Senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing in the Supreme Court on behalf of Shivraj Singh Chauhan, told the judges that both the parties met in Parliament and resolved the dispute there by mutual consent. After this, Tankha has withdrawn both the cases. On this, the court said that there is no justification for continuing the criminal proceedings after the complainant has withdrawn the charges.
