MP High Court Refuses To Quash Defamation Case Against Former BJP Minister Gauri Shankar Bisen For Calling Banker 'Thief'

Observing that specific allegations have been made out, Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed a petition to quash the proceedings in a criminal defamation case pending against former BJP Minister Gauri Shankar Bisen.

The single-judge bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi observed that the statements of witnesses mention the former Co-operative Minister addressing Sanjay Nagayach, former Chairman of Panna Central Co-operative Bank, as 'Chor' in a public gathering. The court inferred that the above premise prima facie indicates that the comment allegedly made by the Minister lowered the Chairman's image in the public eye.

“…I am of the opinion that in the complaint, specific allegations have been made by complainant against the present petitioner and in the statement, the witnesses have also stated that the present petitioner has alleged against the complainant in a pubic meeting addressing him as 'Chor' which otherwise lowered his image in public”, the bench sitting at Jabalpur reasoned why the dismissal of the petition under Section 482 CrPC is necessitated.

Bisen, a veteran BJP leader, was a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Balaghat Assembly Constituency from 2008 till 2023.

In 2014, a complaint was filed by Mr. Nagayach as per Section 200 Cr. P.C. for the offence under Section 500 IPC against Mr. Bisen and five others. According to the allegations, Bisen visited Panna along with another minisiter Brijendra Pratap Singh and lowered the reputation of Nagayach by calling him 'Chor' while addressing the public gathering. According to the complainant, he was the leader of the petitioner's rival political organisation when the alleged incident happened. The defamatory comment was inspired by political agenda, the counsel for Nagayach argued before the High Court.

The petitioner submitted that a pleading of making the alleged remark alone wouldn't constitute the offence under Section 500 IPC. The complaint lacks details such as the date, month and year when the purported statement was made. The filed complaint reeks of malafide intentions since the complainant himself was embroiled in an embezzlement controversy pertaining to the Co-operative Bank he was in charge of, it was argued on behalf of the petitioner. Since stringent action was taken against the complainant based on such allegations, he held a grudge against the minister which ultimately resulted in the filing of a defamation case against the latter, it was contended.

The documents produced indicate the reasons behind the complainant's enmity towards the petitioner minister, said Bisen's counsel. At the same time, except an oral statement, no newspaper clipping has been adduced which mentions that any such comment was made by the ex-minister against Nagayach, the counsel added.

In turn, the counsel for Nagayach tried to convince the court that mere existence of political rivalry does not automatically point towards malafide intentions of the complainant.

On another note, after the Joint Registrar of the Cooperative Societies, Sagar Division had suspended Nagayach and other Board of Directors without consulting RBI, the said disciplinary action was set aside by the High Court. When the state preferred an appeal to the apex court, a Division Bench in the Civil Appeal ordered the reinstatement of the Board of Directors, while imposing a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the State of Madhya Pradesh.

Accordingly, the petition filed under Section 482 CrPC was dismissed given that such power can be exercised by the High Court only sparingly. In 2019, the High Court had stayed the proceedings in Case No. S.C.P.P.M. 47/2018 pending before the Special Judge (MP/MLA), Bhopal against the former minister.

Sr. Adv. Manish Datt with Adv. Ayur Jain appeared for the Ex-Minister. Advocate Praveen Dubey represented the complainant/respondent no.1.

Case Title: Gauri Shankar Bisen v. Sanjay Nagayach & Anr.

Case No: Misc. Criminal Case No.32853 Of 2019

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (MP) 54

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