Court summons Smriti Irani as accused in defamation complaint

The HRD Minister has been asked to appear before the court on September 27 in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam.

Updated - June 12, 2016 08:57 pm IST - New Delhi

A file photo of Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani. File photo: Sandeep Saxena

A file photo of Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani. File photo: Sandeep Saxena

Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani was on Friday summoned as an accused by a Delhi court in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam.

Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Dheeraj Mittal issued the summons against Ms. Irani asking her to appear before it on September 27.

Mr. Nirupam, a former Congress MP, had filed the complaint against Ms. Irani alleging that on December 20, 2012, when Assembly election results of Gujarat were announced, the BJP leader had made “defamatory and scurrilous comments” against him during a TV debate.

“That the accused (Ms. Irani), a Member of Parliament of the BJP defamed the complainant by making direct aspersions on the character of the complainant (Mr. Nirupam),” the complaint, filed through advocate R.K. Handoo, said.

“The complainant’s (Mr. Nirupam) reputation of excellence and integrity has been dented due to the scurrilous, defamatory and derogatory comments made by accused during the said debate,” it alleged.

Earlier, Ms. Irani had also filed the defamation complaint against Mr. Nirupam for allegedly defaming her during the same debate on the news channel and the court had framed charges against him for allegedly using derogatory and indecent language against her.

Mr. Nirupam, in his complaint, alleged that Ms. Irani had also made derogatory comments against him intentionally and knowing fully well that these “utterances are defamatory against the complainant”.

“The complainant is paying heavily in terms of loss to his reputation and political career apart from the mental agony and torture caused to the complainant for the scurrilous and defamatory comments and allegations made by the accused (Ms. Irani),” it claimed.

Mr. Nirupam said that he had sent a legal notice to Ms. Irani through his counsel on July 25, last year, asking her to tender an “unconditional public apology” for allegedly making defamatory comments against him, but she did not reply to it.

On Ms. Irani’s complaint, the court had put Mr. Nirupam on trial under sections 500 (defamation) and 509 (uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC.

If convicted, section 500 of the IPC entails a simple imprisonment for two years or fine or both. Section 509 of IPC carries a simple jail term of one year or fine or both.

Ms. Irani, a Rajya Sabha member, had claimed in her complaint that Mr. Nirupam had allegedly questioned her credentials to analyse poll results given her background as a TV actress.

Mr. Nirupam had allegedly made the remarks on December 20, 2012 during a debate on Gujarat Assembly election results on a private news channel.

Ms. Irani had also recorded her statement before the court in connection with her complaint in which she had given details of the alleged derogatory remarks made by Mr. Nirupam.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.