New Delhi, Jul 27 (PTI): The police have no role in private criminal defamation complaints and it is up to the complainants to prove their case, the Supreme Court iterated on Wednesday, while hearing a plea filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

“Police has no role in criminal defamation…a magistrate cannot seek an inquiry report from police,” a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R.F. Nariman said.

The judges found fault with a lower court’s order asking Maharashtra police to probe the defamation case filed against the Congress Vice-President for his comment on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Rahul had said the RSS was to blame for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Rahul has petitioned the Supreme Court to quash the defamation case filed against him.

The court said that, instead of quashing the case, it may remand the matter back to the lower court.

The Supreme Court had earlier said Rahul should not have resorted to “collective denunciation” of an organisation, and will have to face trial if he does not express regret.

The bench referred to an earlier judgment delivered on a batch of pleas, including the one filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy and Rahul each, challenging the constitutional validity of India’s penal defamation law.

”We have said in the Subramanian Swamy case that the police has no role in private criminal complaints...whatever has to be established, it has to be established by the man (complainant) himself. The magistrates cannot call for a report from the police,” the bench said.

It asked senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Congress leader, to read relevant portions of the judgment, penned by Justice Misra, in the Subramanian Swamy case, dealing with the power of police and magistrates in criminal defamation cases.

”Police has no role in criminal defamation. It cannot lodge an FIR and a Magistrate cannot seek a inquiry report from police under sections 156 (3) and 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Magistrate has to himself make inquiry into the allegations...this is altogether a different process,” it said.

The bench then deferred the hearing to August 23 and asked the counsel for both sides including senior advocate U.R. Lalit to address it on legal proposition with regard to power of magistrates and police in such cases.