In a legal maneuver on Tuesday, the Supreme Court quelled a criminal defamation lawsuit against Tejashwi Yadav, a prominent figure in the RJD. Summoned by an Ahmedabad court for purportedly disparaging remarks against the indigenous population of Gujarat, Yadav’s legal predicament was resolved following his decision to retract the contentious statements.

A judicial panel comprised of Justices A S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan nullified the charges levied against Yadav concerning his comments on the people of Gujarat. Yadav, in an effort to ameliorate the situation, submitted an apology affidavit to the apex court, a conciliatory gesture that was accepted. Consequently, Yadav is now exempt from facing a trial in the Ahmedabad court.

The apex court’s intervention transpired as a response to Yadav’s petition, wherein he sought the relocation of the criminal defamation proceedings initiated against him in Ahmedabad. This pertained to his alleged assertion that “only Gujaratis can be thugs.” The court, on January 22, questioned the continuation of prosecuting Yadav when he had retracted his statement. The hearing on Yadav’s plea to transfer the criminal defamation complaint was adjourned accordingly.

Earlier, the apex court had temporarily halted the proceedings in the criminal defamation case and issued a notice to Haresh Mehta, a Gujarat resident and local entrepreneur-activist who instigated the complaint.

In August of the preceding year, a Gujarat court, in adherence to section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, conducted a preliminary inquiry against Yadav. The court deemed there were substantial grounds to summon him based on the complaint filed by Mehta.

Mehta alleged that during a media interaction in Patna in March of the prior year, Yadav remarked, “Only Gujaratis can be thugs in the present situation, and their fraud will be forgiven.” The RJD leader purportedly questioned, “Who will be responsible if they run away with the money belonging to the LIC or banks?”