On Monday, September 8, 2025, the Supreme Court dismissed a special leave petition (SLP No. 13483/2025) filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (Telangana) seeking to restore a criminal defamation case against Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy. The bench, led by Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai and comprising Justices K. Vinod Chandran and Atul S. Chandurkar, upheld the Telangana High Court’s earlier decision to quash the complaint, refusing to entertain the matter as a political battleground.
The dispute originated from a speech by Revanth Reddy during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, where he allegedly claimed that the BJP would amend the Constitution and abolish SC/ST/OBC reservations if it secured over 400 seats. Aggrieved, BJP Telangana General Secretary Karam Venkateshwarlu filed a criminal complaint in May 2024, leading the trial court to issue notice to Reddy and initiate proceedings under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (120A, 124A, 153, 153A, 153B, 171C, 171G, 499, 505, 511) and Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Reddy challenged this in the Telangana High Court, which quashed the case on August 1, 2025.
The High Court, presided over by Justice K. Lakshman, ruled that the alleged defamatory remarks targeted the National BJP, not the Telangana unit, rendering it an improper “person aggrieved” under Section 199(1) of the CrPC. It further noted that Venkateshwarlu filed the complaint individually without authorization or mention of his BJP membership as grounds for grievance. The court also raised the threshold for defamation claims involving political speeches, observing, “Political speeches are often exaggerated. To allege that such speeches are defamatory is another exaggeration.”
During the Supreme Court hearing, as Senior Advocate Ranjit Kumar attempted to argue the case, Chief Justice Gavai promptly stated, “Dismissed.” When Kumar persisted, the CJI reiterated, “We have repeated on many occasions, courts cannot be converted into political battlegrounds.” As Kumar sought to elaborate, Gavai added, “If you are in politics, you should have a thick skin. Dismissed,” signaling the bench’s firm stance against using judicial forums for political disputes.
This ruling reinforces the judiciary’s reluctance to intervene in political rhetoric, aligning with the High Court’s view that such matters require resilience rather than litigation.
Case Details: Bharatiya Janata Party (Telangana) v. A. Revanth Reddy | SLP (Crl.) 13483/2025
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