New Delhi: A city court is likely to decide on February 3 whether to summon Congress Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Shashi Tharoor in a criminal defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Chandrashekhar.
Chandrashekhar has alleged that Tharoor defamed him by making false and derogatory imputations on national television by stating that he was bribing voters in the Thiruvananthapuram parliamentary constituency.
Chandrashekhar has further alleged that Tharoor made those statements knowing fully well that those statements were false and were made with the intent to damage his reputation affect the result of the last Lok Sabha elections.
What did the court say?
Additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal adjourned the matter on Friday after noting that statement of one of the witnesses arrayed by Chandrashekhar was yet to be received from a court in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Matter be fixed for orders on summoning/issue of process on February 3,” the additional chief judicial magistrate said, news agency PTI reported.
What has Chandrashekhar alleged?
Chandrashekhar in his complaint said that the interview(s) was/were published by various news channels as well as on social media platforms at the behest of Tharoor and resulted in loss of his reputation in society and ultimately resulted in him losing the last year Lok Sabha elections.
“The interview(s) was/were published by various news channels as well as on social media platforms at the behest of the proposed accused and resulted in loss of reputation of the complainant in the society, which ultimately resulted in the complainant losing the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024,” Chandrashekhar said.
Delhi court took cognisance of Chandrashekhar’s complaint in September last year
A city court had on September 21 last year took cognisance of the complaint made by Chandrashekhar.
“On the basis of the submissions made and the material placed on record, which prima facie disclose the ingredients of the offence, I take cognisance of the offence(s) under sections 500 IPC (Indian Penal Code) and 171G IPC,” the court said while taking cognisance of Chandrashekhar’s complaint.
