A Delhi court has dismissed a plea by BJP leader Suraj Bhan Chauhan seeking the prosecution of AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj for allegedly making defamatory remarks in 2018. The court rejected the petition, citing an excessive delay in filing the complaint.
Special Judge Vishal Gogne upheld a trial court’s decision from February 19, which had already dismissed Chauhan’s complaint. The judge noted that the deadline to file the case had expired on March 16, 2024, and the trial court had taken a lenient approach in considering the limitation period.
Court Calls Chauhan’s Move
The judge criticized Chauhan’s actions, calling them “whimsical and opportunistic.” He pointed out that Chauhan filed the defamation complaint in December 2024, just before the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections, even though the alleged remarks were made in September 2018.
Chauhan’s Justification
Chauhan argued that he had mistakenly filed the complaint in the wrong court (Saket Court instead of Rouse Avenue Court) in September 2020. He later withdrew it from Saket in November 2022 and refiled it at Rouse Avenue on December 12, 2024. However, the judge ruled that this did not justify the delay.
The judge noted that the trial court had already been lenient by excluding the period from January 7, 2020, to July 1, 2022, from the limitation calculation. Even with this extension, Chauhan still delayed filing the complaint by 270 days after the deadline expired in March 2024.
Further Extension
The judge stated, “When the petitioner himself has not shown serious intent in pursuing his case, the court cannot bend the rules of limitation in his favor.”
Magistrate Had Earlier Rejected Extension Request
Earlier, a magistrate had ruled that the defamation complaint should have been filed within three years of the alleged incident in 2018. Since Chauhan failed to justify the delay, the court refused to grant an extension and dismissed the plea.
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