The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought response from Delhi Police and Zee News on Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s plea challenging the summons and framing of charges against her in a defamation case.
Ms. Moitra has challenged a trial court’s orders of September 25, 2019, and January 10, by which she was summoned as accused and charges were framed against her in the defamation case respectively.
On January 10, the trial court had framed charges against Ms. Moitra for the alleged offence of criminal defamation under the Indian Penal Code.
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Requisite intention
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Ms. Moitra, said that she was summoned without considering that the remarks were made by her without requisite intention.
The case relates to Ms. Moitra’s June 25, 2019 speech in Parliament on the ‘Seven Signs of Fascism’ and a TV show run by the news channel.
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Ms. Moitra has filed a criminal defamation complaint against Zee News and it editor Sudhir Chaudhary for alleging that her June 25 speech was plagiarised.
Subsequently, Zee News filed a defamation complaint against Ms. Moitra for allegedly making statements against them to the media.