Supreme Court quashes defamation case against RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav over his ‘Gujarati thugs’ remark

Tribune News Service

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, February 13

In a relief to former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the Supreme Court on Tuesday quashed a criminal defamation case against him in Gujarat over his alleged “only Gujaratis can be thugs” remark.

A Bench led by Justice AS Oka — which had on February 5 reserved its order on Yadav’s petition seeking transfer of the criminal defamation complaint pending against him in a Ahmedabad court — quashed the case after the RJD leader filed an apology and withdrew his alleged remarks against Gujaratis.

While talking to reporters in Patna in March 2023, Yadav had allegedly said, “Only Gujaratis can be thugs in the present situation, and their fraud will be forgiven… Who will be responsible if they run away with the money belonging to the LIC or banks?”

An Ahmedabad court had in August conducted a preliminary enquiry against Yadav under section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and found sufficient grounds to summon him over his alleged offending remarks against Gujaratis.

However, the top court had stayed the proceedings in the criminal defamation complaint and issued notice to complainant Mehta who filed a complaint against Yadav under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), accusing the RJD leader of defaming all Gujaratis.

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