‘Have Thick Skin,’ Supreme Court Tells BJP in Defamation Case Against Telangana CM Revanth Reddy

The Supreme Court today dismissed a petition moved by Bhartiya Janata Party (Telangana) challenging a High Court order quashing the defamation case filed against Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.

A bench comprising CJI BR Gavai, Justice K Vinod Chandran and Justice Atul S Chandurkar refused to entertain a challenge to the August 1 order of the Telangana High Court, which quashed the complaint filed by BJP State General Secretary over Reddy's statements that if BJP gets 400 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, it will abolish SC/ST/OBC reservations.

CJI Gavai told Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar appearing for BJP that political battles should be fought outside of court. "Courts cannot be made political battlegrounds", the CJI said.

High Court had said that in case of political speeches, the threshold to allege defamation and maintain a complaint under Section 199 Criminal Procedure Code would be higher. It had further noted that the speech was made in relation to the national unit of the BJP and no reference was made to its Telangana unit.

"Political speeches are often exaggerated. To allege that such speeches are defamatory is another exaggeration", the High Court had said.

A criminal case was registered against Reddy under Sections 120A, 124A, 153, 153A, 153B, 171C, 171G, 499, 505, and 511 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 125 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951.

Case Title: BJP Telangana vs. Revanth Reddy

Hearing Date: September 8, 2025

Bench: CJI Gavai, Justices Chandran and Chandurkar