A court here will commence hearing arguments on framing of charges on a criminal defamation complaint filed by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit against former Delhi BJP president Vijender Gupta on May 15.
Metropolitan Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal allowed Ms. Dikshit’s plea for exemption from personal appearance on Saturday after her lawyer Mehmood Pracha said that she could not appear in the court as she underwent a surgery recently and was not feeling well.
During the hearing, Mr. Gupta’s counsel, Ajay Burman, argued that if the complainant in a summons-trial case does not appear in the case on several dates, then the court could dismiss the complaint unless there is a valid or plausible reason for non-appearance. He also claimed that while Ms. Dikshit was not coming to the court, she was attending Press conferences.
Mr. Pracha said the trial was not getting delayed due to her non-appearance and that she had furnished sufficient reason for each instance of non-appearance. Ms. Dikshit had filed the criminal defamation case against Mr. Gupta alleging that the BJP leader used “uncivilised” language against her in the run up to MCD polls last year.
