Court relief for Revanth: Telangana HC sets aside defamation order in DLF case

Hyderabad: On Friday, the Telangana High Court set aside the defamation order against A Revanth Reddy by allowing the quash petition filed by the president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).

A Single Bench of Justice K Lakshman quashed the cognisance order of criminal defamation against Revanth Reddy which was issued by a lower court. The criminal defamation case was filed by Dr A Rameshwara Rao in 2014.

Dr A Rameshwara Rao filed the defamation case, allegedly that Revanth Reddy made comments on the DLF lands in TV channels/public meetings/newspapers which were inappropriate, wrong and slanderous.

The petitioner said that Revanth Reddy had uttered the word “Donga Dora” referring to Rameshwara Rao, which was defamatory.

Further, the petitioner had claimed that Revanth Reddy made wild allegations against Rao, alleging that Rao’s company illegally took charge of the DLF lands worth Rs 700 cores, without paying any money.

SS Prasad, senior counsel appearing for Revanth Reddy, informed the court that the allegations made by Revanth Reddy do not constitute defamation. Being a public representative, his words were misrepresented by various social media platforms and referred to a Supreme Court judgment in his defence.

At an earlier hearing, Mr Prasad had informed the court that, based on media reports, the industrialist moved the defamation case to the 17th additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court and later the case was transferred to the special sessions court without the knowledge of the petitioner.

Justice Lakshman, after hearing the arguments of the senior counsel, set aside the impugned order of the magistrate.