India Supreme Court dismissed Thursday a Special Leave Petition by the Indian National Congress, India’s largest opposition party, Spokesperson Pawan Khera, seeking quashing of a criminal complaint against him over remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A special leave petition, given under Article 136 of the Indian Constitution, is a request seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, typically filed when a litigant wants to challenge a lower court’s decision.

The petition was appealing the judgement of a High Court from the State of Uttar Pradesh under section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which had refused to quash the criminal complaint against the petitioner. Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. empowers the High Court to exercise inherent powers to prevent abuse of the process of any court or to secure the ends of justice. Pursuant to Section 482, a High Court can quash a complaint, thereby dismissing the case against the petitioner. The Supreme Court decided not to intervene or challenge the judgment by the High Court. Consequently, the special leave petition was dismissed.

There are allegations against Khera that he intentionally insulted Prime Minister Modi by passing remarks at a press conference in February. Khera had called Modi Narendra ‘Gautamdas’ Modi instead of Modi’s actual name, Narendra ‘Damodardas’ PM Modi. The change to Gautam was attributed to the allegations levelled by the opposition that the Indian Government is unjustly protecting Gautam Adani and his Adani Group. Furthermore, members of PM Modi’s party, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), alleged that it was an insult to Modi’s father as well, considering Damodardas is the name of PM Modi’s father. The issue had created much controversy as ‘Gautamdas’ loosely translates to ‘Gautam’s servant’. Khera was subsequently arrested in February because of this remark and later released on bail.

The political environment in India has tensed up in recent times as India is poised to hold general elections for the lower house of its Parliament, Lok Sabha, to elect 543 members. The anticipated timeframe for the election is between April and May 2024, and the outcome will determine the country’s prime minister.