Jabalpur, May 14 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.

The case was heard by the Jabalpur Bench of the High Court, where Rahul Gandhi has challenged the summons issued to him by the MP-MLA Court in Bhopal in a defamation complaint filed by Kartikey Singh Chouhan, son of Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Confirming the development, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Vivek Tankha said there was no major development during Thursday’s proceedings.

“No significant development took place during today’s hearing. The matter has been adjourned to June,” Tankha said.

The defamation case relates to remarks made by Rahul Gandhi during the 2018 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election campaign.

While addressing a rally in Jhabua, Gandhi referred to the Panama Papers controversy and mentioned the names of Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Kartikey Singh Chouhan.

He had also referred to action taken against former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after the Panama Papers revelations and said no similar action had been taken in Madhya Pradesh.

However, a day after the rally, Rahul Gandhi issued a clarification saying he had mistakenly taken Kartikey Singh Chouhan’s name and had intended to refer to the son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

Kartikey Singh Chouhan later filed a criminal defamation complaint in the MP-MLA Court in Bhopal, alleging that the remarks had damaged his reputation.

The special court issued a summons to Rahul Gandhi, following which he moved the High Court seeking quashing of the complaint and the summons.

The High Court has now directed that records from the Bhopal court be placed before it before the next hearing.

–IANS

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