A single bench of Justice NR Borkar rejected Gandhi’s argument that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not an identifiable body and therefore the remarks could not form the basis of a defamation case involving its members

Published on: Sep 9, 2026, 07:46:00 IST

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MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to quash a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including calling him “commander in-thief”. The court dismissed Gandhi’s plea challenging a 2019 Girgaon magistrate court order that had initiated proceedings against him.

A single bench of Justice NR Borkar rejected Gandhi’s argument that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was not an identifiable body and therefore the remarks could not form the basis of a defamation case involving its members.

“Being a registered national political party, the BJP is definitely an identifiable body. On prima facie reading of the statement, describing the PM, who is a member of the BJP, as a “commander in thief”, cannot be said to be limited only to the senior leadership of the party. Whether the imputation was in substance and what impact it will have on members of the party will have to be considered at the stage of trial,” the judge said while upholding the magisterial court order.

The case stems from a private complaint filed by BJP member Mahesh Shrishrimal in 2018. He alleged that Gandhi made defamatory remarks against PM Modi during a public rally in Rajasthan on September 20 that year, including the statement, “Hindustan ka chowkidar chor hai”.

Shrishrimal also alleged that Gandhi, while commenting on a video posted on his personal “X” account (formerly Twitter) on September 24, 2018, referred to Modi as “Commander in Thief”. He claimed that the remarks amounted to allegations of theft against Modi as well as BJP members and other Indian citizens associated with him.

The Girgaon magistrate court initiated proceedings against Gandhi in 2019, following which he approached the high court. His petition, filed in November 2021, denied the allegations and sought quashing of the proceedings.

Gandhi argued that he is exposed to such frivolous and vexatious litigations by his political adversaries due to his standing as an elected Member of Parliament. He also contended that the complainant had misinterpreted his remarks and that the material produced did not support the allegations.

“The complaint is wholly baseless and is nothing but a vehicle to drive the complainant’s own political agenda to tarnish his public image”, said the petition, filed through advocate Kushal Mor.

The Congress leader further argued that his comments related to the conduct of a public servant while performing public functions and therefore “it cannot be deemed as defamatory”.

“No individual can prevent the expression of public opinion by instituting cases of defamation with a view to harass another person and humiliate him and put him in great expenditure”, he said.

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