A court in Lucknow has dismissed a defamation complaint filed against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over his Kathmullapan remark made during a speech in the Legislative Council in February this year..Additional Civil Judge Alok Verma noted that the statements made by Yogi in the Legislative Council are protected under Article 194 of the Constitution of India and therefore cannot be challenged in a court of law."...according to the applicant, the statements in question made by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh were made in the Legislature/Legislative Assembly of the State of Uttar Pradesh, the Chief Minister is granted immunity for the aforesaid statements under Article 194 of the Constitution. Therefore, no proceedings with regard to the statements made by him in the Legislature shall be maintainable before this Court.".The case was filed by a former IPS officer and current National President of Azad Adhikar Sena, Amitabh Thakur. It was alleged that Chief Minister Adityanath’s remarks had incited hostility and hatred among various sections of society based on caste, religion, place of birth, residence, language and community, thereby disturbing social harmony. The statement attributed to the Chief Minister in the complaint was -“समाजवादियों का चरित्र दोहरा हो चुका है, ये अपने बच्चों को पढ़ाएंगे इंग्लिश स्कूल में और दूसरों के बच्चों के लिए कहेंगे उर्दू पढ़ाओ… उनको मौलवी बनाना चाहते हैं, ‘कठमुल्लापन’ की ओर देश को ले जाना चाहते हैं, ये नहीं चल सकता है…”(Rough translation - "The character of the socialists has become two-faced. They will send their own children to English medium schools but tell others to study Urdu… They want to turn them into maulvis, want to take the country towards fundamentalism. This cannot be allowed...").In his complaint, Thakur alleged that the Yogi’s remarks had hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community and defamed them.However, while hearing the case, the court clarified that only the person directly affected by the alleged defamatory statement can file such a complaint. Based on this, the court held that Thakur is not an aggrieved person in this matter and, therefore, cannot legally maintain a defamation case against CM.The court observed that when defamation is alleged against high-ranking officials, including a Minister, a complaint can only be filed with prior government sanction through a public prosecutor. Accordingly, the court held that since Thakur had not complied with this mandatory requirement, the defamation complaint against Yogi was not maintainable..[Read Order]
