The case traces back to remarks Gandhi made in December 2022, when he claimed the Chinese army had occupied 2,000 sq km of Indian territory and “thrashed our jawans” in Arunachal Pradesh’s Yangtse sector. A retired Border Roads Organisation director, Uday Shankar Srivastava, lodged a complaint accusing Gandhi of defaming the armed forces and undermining troop morale.
Gandhi’s plea before the Supreme Court challenges a 29 May order of the Allahabad High Court, which had declined to quash a trial court summons in the defamation case. The top court had stayed further proceedings in August as it considered whether Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita mandates prior hearing of the accused before a court takes cognisance of such complaints. Earlier in August, the Supreme Court had criticised Gandhi’s remarks, querying the factual basis of the territorial claim and asking whether he had credible material to support it.
On Monday, Gandhi’s legal team informed the Supreme Court that they required more time to submit a rejoinder affidavit. The bench acceded to this request and listed the matter for the week beginning 20 November, explicitly extending the interim stay until then.
In parallel, the Supreme Court also extended the stay in a related petition involving defamation proceedings tied to a complaint by former JNU professor Amita Singh against The Wire. That case had earlier been tagged with Gandhi’s matter following observations by the court on the need to reconsider the decriminalisation of Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant’s counsel, senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, argued that the two matters are interlinked and should proceed together. The defence countered that Gandhi must be afforded the right to be heard before any trial court action is taken, alluding to the safeguards enshrined in Section 223.
In its August hearing, the Supreme Court had indicated that Gandhi’s contention about procedural breach under Section 223 appeared prima facie valid. The court also questioned the substantive claims made by Gandhi, asking rhetorically how one could assert that 2,000 sq km of territory had been captured by China without credible on-ground verification.