The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea filed by retired IPS officer Param Vir Rathee challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision to quash the summoning of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Abhay Singh Chautala in a defamation case dating back to 2008.
A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and Satish Chandra Sharma declined to interfere with the December 19, 2023, order of the high court, which had set aside the summoning of Chautala.
Rathee had filed a complaint in August 2008 alleging that Chautala and others made defamatory statements against him, which were subsequently published in several newspapers. He claimed the remarks caused “irreparable loss and damage” to his reputation.
In 2010, a Gurugram court summoned Chautala in connection with the case. That order was upheld by the additional district and sessions court after Chautala challenged it. The matter eventually reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which quashed the summoning order.
While setting aside the lower court’s order, the high court noted that Rathee’s preliminary evidence did not establish that Chautala had actually made the alleged defamatory statements.
“The complaint does not utter a single word of any prior ill-will of the petitioner against the complainant,” the high court observed. It further held that the complainant had not demonstrated any malice, mala fide intent, or oblique motive on the part of Chautala.
Concluding that the allegations lacked proof of malicious intent, the high court said it was a fit case “to prevent abuse of the process of law.”
Endorsing the high court’s reasoning, the apex court refused to revive the proceedings, effectively bringing the 16-year-old litigation to a close in Chautala’s favour.
