Defamation Plea on CM: Telangana HC Reserves Order Telangana

The Telangana High Court on Monday reserved orders in the criminal petition filed by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, seeking quashing of proceedings registered against him before the Principal Special Judicial First Class Magistrate for Excise Cases at Hyderabad, which emanate from a private complaint filed by Telangana BJP general secretary Kasam Venkateshwarulu. It was alleged that Revanth Reddy in an election campaign meeting on May 4, 2024, at Kothagudem had stated that if the BJP came to power at the Centre, it would remove reservations for the SC, ST and BC communities.

Venkateswarlu filed a private complaint alleging that Revanth Reddy had made false and derogatory remarks against the BJP and Union home minister Amit Shah. The case is under trial and Revanth Reddy approached the High Court challenging



it. T. Niranjan Reddy, senior counsel, appearing for Revanth Reddy, vehemently opposed to the contentions put forth by Venkateshwarulu’s counsel and submitted that a private complaint against a political speech was not maintainable. He also raised the contention that Venkateshwarlu had not been given any permission by the BJP leadership to file a private complaint on behalf of the party.

Niranjan Reddy said that Venkateshwarulu had not furnished any document / letter received from the BJP leadership giving its consent to file such a complaint. It was argued that the speech by Revanth Reddy was political in nature, and these could not be construed as defamatory because delivering a political speech was a freedom under Article 19 of the Constitution.