A Delhi court on Wednesday dismissed a criminal defamation complaint against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee filed by BJP leader Mukul Roy.
Mr. Roy had accused Mr. Banerjee of defamation by sending a legal notice regarding a speech made by the former in Kolkata last year where he allegedly levelled allegations against the TMC MP and later leaking the notice to the media.
He further said that he was also defamed by a tweet regarding an order by a West Bengal court restraining him from making statements against Mr. Banerjee in certain specific matters. Another allegation made by Mr. Roy was that his reputation was damaged when the All India Trinamool Youth Congress called him a “traitor”.
Dismissing his first charge, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate-II at the Patiala House Courts Samar Vishal said: “I am unable to understand how serving a legal notice can be said to be defamatory in the absence of any defamatory remarks in that legal notice. Similarly, the news reports relied upon in the complaint can by no stretch of imagination be said to be defamatory.”
Regarding the tweet, the Magistrate said: “When the alleged defamatory tweet was not made by the respondent (Mr. Banerjee), how he can be liable for that tweet?”
On the third allegation, the Magistrate said: “The complaint as well as the evidence of the complainant does not attribute these words to the respondent (Mr. Banerjee).”
