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The Supreme Court today(August 21) refused to quash a defamation case against Shirmani Akali Dali president and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, filed by Rajinder Pal Singh, spokesperson of the religious organisation Akhand Kirtani Jatha.

A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sheel Nagu dismissed his special leave petition. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Badal.

It may be recalled that Pal Singh in 2017 filed a complaint against Badal under Section 499(defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. He alleged that Badal, when he was the Deputy CM, made certain defamatory statements in several newspapers alleging that the complainant and the AKJ were a "political front" of the largest terrorist outfit, Babbar Khalsa International.

This, the complainant said, was made because the then Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had come to meet him. The Magistrate on March 4, 2020, prima facie concluded that the petitioner had made defamatory statements and summoned him under Sections 500 and 501 of the IPC.

Badal approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court under Section 482 CrPC for quashing the complaint as well as the summoning order by the Judicial Magistrate. However, the High Court dismissed his petition.

Case Details:  SUKHBIR SINGH BADAL v RAJINDER PAL SINGH|Diary No. 35327-2026

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