NEW DELHI: Given the common practice of unfiltered accusations made in the political arena, Supreme Court on Monday had a word of advice for netas and parties: “If you are a politician, you must have a thick skin”.A three-judge bench headed by the CJI – he comes from a political family; his father, R S Gavai, was an MP – made the remark while junking an appeal filed by Telangana BJP challenging the dismissal of its defamation suit against Congress CM Revanth Reddy over his alleged comments against the saffron party while campaigning for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Appearing for BJP’s Telangana unit, senior advocates Ranjit Kumar and Guru Krishna Kumar said HC had held the defamation case filed against the CM was maintainable but dismissed it saying the case was filed without prior authorisation from the party. The counsel said that even if the defamation case was not maintainable, the utterances of the Congress neta during electioneering constituted an offence under Section 125 of the Representation of People Act as it promoted enmity between classes of people in the electoral context. In Aug last year, the trial court had entertained the defamation suit against Reddy. However, on an appeal filed by the CM, the Telangana HC had dismissed the defamation case, upholding Reddy’s contention that no prima facie case was made out against him. HC had said, “Even if this court were to accept that the complainant is a part of the national unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party and may be treated as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the complaint is not maintainable for the lack of authorisation.”BJP then challenged the HC order in the SC. When BJP pressed further on Monday, the CJI-led bench also comprising Justices K Vinod Chandran and A S Chandurkar, said, “We have repeatedly warned all political personalities and parties not to use the court as a platform for their political battles which should be fought in the political arena.” To deter prolongation of arguments on the petition, the CJI said carrying them further would entail costs for the party.
