MP High Court Closes Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case After Complainant Accepts Clarification and Regret

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has brought an end to the criminal defamation proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after taking on record his public clarification and expression of regret over a statement made during the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election campaign. The Court also directed the closure of the criminal complaint pending before the trial court, observing that the complainant no longer wished to pursue the matter.

Justice Pramod Kumar Agrawal passed the order while disposing of Rahul Gandhi’s petition filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), challenging the trial court’s December 13, 2024 order that had taken cognisance of an offence under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code and summoned him in a criminal defamation case.

During the proceedings, Rahul Gandhi filed an interlocutory application explaining that while addressing an election rally in Jhabua on October 29, 2018, he had mistakenly referred to the complainant while speaking about the widely reported Panama Papers controversy. He clarified that he had intended to refer to the son of the former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and not the complainant or the complainant’s father, who was then serving as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. The application further stated that he had publicly clarified the mistake on the very next day, October 30, 2018, and continued to stand by that clarification while expressing regret for the error.

The complainant, Kartikey Singh Chauhan, filed a written reply before the High Court stating that, in light of Rahul Gandhi’s clarification and expression of regret, he did not wish to pursue the litigation any further. He requested that both the proceedings before the High Court and the pending complaint before the trial court be closed after incorporating the applicant’s statement into the final order.

Accepting the submissions made by both parties, the High Court observed that Rahul Gandhi had expressed regret for the alleged defamatory statement and that the complainant had voluntarily accepted the clarification. In view of the settlement between the parties, the Court held that there was no reason for the proceedings to continue.

Accordingly, the High Court closed the petition pending before it and directed that the criminal complaint pending before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Special Judge (MP & MLA), Bhopal, shall also stand closed. The Court further directed that a copy of the order be forwarded to the trial court for necessary compliance.

The order effectively ends the nearly eight-year-old criminal defamation dispute arising from Rahul Gandhi’s 2018 election speech, with no further criminal proceedings surviving against him in the matter.

Case: Rahul Gandhi v. Kartikey Singh Chauhan

Court: Madhya Pradesh High Court

Bench: Justice Pramod Kumar Agrawal

Date of Order: 25 June 2026