The Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by the Telangana unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, seeking action over alleged defamatory remarks made by him during the 2024 Telangana Assembly election campaign.
The bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and Justices K. Vinod Chandran and Atul S. Chandurkar, firmly rebuked the petitioners for attempting to use the highest Court to settle political scores.
During the hearing, the counsel representing the petitioner informed the bench that the Telangana High Court had declined to entertain the matter, stating that the petitioner did not have the necessary authorization to proceed in this case.
CJI Gavai sharply observed, “We have been time and again saying that the Courts are not a platform to settle political battles.” He added that politicians must possess the resilience to face criticism and public scrutiny without resorting to litigation in the apex judicial forum. The Chief Justice emphasized that such defamation claims arising in the heat of political campaigns should not be trivialized as judicial matters unless there is clear malice or violation of legal standards.
“In a democracy, political debates often turn sharp, but politicians should have strong skills to bear all these things without approaching the Court for every political disagreement,” the CJI remarked.
Following these observations, the bench summarily dismissed the plea, sending a clear message discouraging the use of courts for political vendettas.
The BJP’s Telangana unit had approached the Supreme Court seeking strict action against CM Revanth Reddy, alleging that his statements during the election campaign were defamatory and misleading, intended to malign the opposition. However, the Court’s dismissal signals the judiciary’s stance that defamation in the political sphere requires careful scrutiny before being admitted, especially during the charged atmosphere of electoral contests.
Legal experts suggest that the judgment reaffirms the principle that courts should not be misused for political point-scoring and should remain a forum of justice, not of political vendetta.
The Telangana Chief Minister’s office welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that the ruling reinforces democratic norms and the importance of robust political discourse without unnecessary legal intervention. Meanwhile, the BJP is yet to respond to the dismissal publicly.
This verdict reiterates the Supreme Court’s consistent approach towards discouraging the politicization of judicial processes and maintaining the integrity of democratic institutions.
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