Digvijaya Singh acquitted in RSS case

March 12, 2024 10:02 pm | Updated 10:02 pm IST - Bhopal

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh was on Tuesday acquitted in a defamation case over his remarks that the BJP and RSS workers were spying for Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI.

A Gwalior-based court acquitted Mr. Singh from charges under the ninth exception of IPC Section 499 in the case filed by a BJP worker and lawyer Awadesh Singh Bhadoriya.

The case pertains to Mr. Singh’s August 2019 remarks in which he had said that some people from the Bajrang Dal and the BJP were caught “spying for the ISI”.

“In the BJP’s rule, these people got bail which should be cancelled. They should face proper trial under sedition charges. On one hand the BJP lectures us on nationalism every day, on the other hand their own people take money from them [Pakistan] to spy on India,” Mr. Singh had charged, speaking to reporters on August 31, 2019.

He was speaking following the arrest of various alleged Bajrang Dal workers in connection with a terror-funding racket busted in Madhya Pradesh.

The court rejected the merits of the case saying that the complainant had “failed to prove” that Mr. Singh had defamed the BJP and RSS workers.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Mr. Singh said that he faced legal action whenever he spoke truth. “But the truth prevails,” he said.

“I had six cases against me and five are remaining. Out of them, one is a defamation case by the RSS, two cases are by [Asaduddin] Owaisi ji’s AIMIM and one was filed by Baba Ramdev. Whenever I speak the truth, it pricks people. In 2011, I had said Baba Ramdev is a fraud but now the Supreme Court is also saying this,” the Congress veteran said.

Part of Mr. Singh’s legal team, advocate Sanjay Shukla said the complainant could not prove both the defamation charges and that he himself was a member of a political organisation.