A Madhya Pradesh High Court bench in Jabalpur has lifted the interim stay on the arrest warrant issued against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee after he repeatedly failed to appear in court in connection with the defamation case filed by former MLA Akash Vijayvargiya.
A single bench of Justice Pramod Kumar Agrawal on Wednesday said: “No one appeared for the petitioner even in the pass round. No one appeared on behalf of the petitioner in the first round as well. It appears that the petitioner has lost interest in pursuing this petition. This court by its order dated November 12, 2025 stayed the proceedings to implement the arrest warrant issued by the Special Judge, MP/MLA, Bhopal. Accordingly, the stay granted in favor of the petitioner is also set aside.”
At a rally in Kolkata, Banerjee allegedly referred to Akash Vijayvargiya as a “gunda” (thug) in November 2020, months after Vijayvargiya beat up a municipal corporation employee with a cricket bat.
Terming the remark defamatory and damaging to his reputation, Akash filed a complaint in the Bhopal MP-MLA court in 2021.
The Bhopal MP-MLA has issued an arrest warrant for Abhishek Banerjee after he failed to appear in court. He had challenged the lower court’s order regarding the arrest warrant before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. In the Supreme Court, he argued that, as an elected member of Parliament, there was no risk of him fleeing. Based on these arguments, the Supreme Court initially granted a temporary stay of the arrest order.
