Delhi HC Issues Notice on Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s Plea in Defamation Case Against Shashi Tharoor
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, May 20, 2025 issued notice in a plea filed by BJP leader and former Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, challenging the trial court's order that had dismissed his defamation complaint against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
When the matter was taken up today, a bench led by Justice Ravinder Dudeja while seeking Tharoor's response noted that the matter required consideration.
During the hearing, the court was told by senior counsel appearing for BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar that the trial court had ignored evidence while ruling that no case of defamation was made out against Tharoor.
It may be noted that the trial court had dismissed Chandrasekhar’s complaint earlier in February. The court had said that no prima facie case was made out against Tharoor and had refused to summon him in the criminal defamation case.
Challenging this, BJP leader Rajiv Chandrashekhar filed a revision plea before the Delhi High Court.
BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar had filed a defamation complaint against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for allegedly making derogatory statements against him during a television interview on the Malayalam news channel' '24 News'.
According to the complaint, Tharoor allegedly accused Rajeev Chandrasekhar of bribing voters in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency during the time of 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Chandrasekhar has contended that the remarks were derogatory in nature and had caused reputational harm to him.
On 4 February, the Rouse Avenue Court dismissed the defamation complaint filed by BJP leader Rajeev Chandrashekhar against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor for issuing false, derogatory, and malicious statements through interviews that were published and widely disseminated via news channels such as 24News, Manorama News, Asianet News, and online platforms like YouTube.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal held that “It is noteworthy to see how interviews, words, etc. can be manipulated to mean differently with some outside context or interpretation attributed to such words. Ex.CW1/3 when read in whole as part of 23 minutes video seems civilized conversation between two persons and provides a full context of what was asked and what was answered”.
Case Title: Rajeev Chandrashekhar v Shashi Tharoor