In a significant relief for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Gauhati High Court has quashed an order of a lower court that had allowed the examination of additional witnesses in a nine-year-old criminal defamation case filed by an RSS worker.
A single-judge bench of Justice Arun Dev Choudhury, on Monday, set aside the September 2023 order of the Additional Sessions Judge No. 2, Kamrup (Metropolitan), which had permitted three more witnesses to be listed against Gandhi. The case is being tried before a magistrate’s court.
The criminal defamation case was filed by RSS worker Anjan Kumar Bora after Gandhi alleged in December 2015 that he was barred by RSS workers from entering the Barpeta Satra, a Vaishnavite monastery in Assam. Bora claimed that these statements were false and defamatory.
The trial began in 2016. By March 2023, six witnesses had already been examined. At that stage, Bora sought to add three more witnesses. The magistrate rejected this application, calling it vague and lacking in particulars. Bora then challenged this decision before the sessions court, which allowed the plea in September 2023.
Gandhi, represented by Senior Advocate Angshuman Bora, approached the Gauhati High Court in July 2024 to challenge the sessions court’s order. After multiple hearings, Justice Choudhury set aside the order, holding that the revisional court had acted without proper legal basis.
“In the considered opinion of the court, in the present case, the application filed before the magistrate was wholly vague and bereft of particulars. Therefore, the magistrate had rightly declined the prayer,” the High Court observed.
The High Court criticised the sessions judge for mechanically interfering with the magistrate’s reasoned order without establishing the necessity of additional witnesses.
“The revisional power is limited to correcting jurisdictional or procedural error, and it does not empower the session court to substitute its own discretion for that of the magistrate in the absence of any manifest illegality,” Justice Choudhury said.
The court added that the sessions judge failed to note that no proper foundation was laid for summoning new witnesses and ignored settled legal principles.
“Such is an arbitrary exercise of discretion, resulting in patent illegality, which cannot be allowed to stand,” the bench remarked while quashing the sessions court’s order dated 22 September 2023.
Justice Choudhury also directed the trial court to expedite the proceedings, noting that the case has been pending since 2016. He observed that since Gandhi is a sitting Member of Parliament, the magistrate should take appropriate measures to ensure swift disposal.
