Supreme Court dismisses BJP leader Manoj Tiwari's plea in Manish Sisodia's criminal defamation case
Apart from Tiwari and Gupta, Sisodia filed the complaint against BJP leaders Hans Raj Hans Pravesh Verma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Harish Khurana. The summons were issued to all of them by the trial court in 2019.
FollowThe Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Tiwari's challenge to the summons issued to him in a criminal defamation case filed by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
According to reports, the bench, headed by Justices SA Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian allowed a similar plea by BJP lawmaker Vijender Gupta, quashing the defamation case against him.
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On November 28, 2019, the BJP leaders challenged a trial court's order summoning them and others as accused in the criminal defamation case.
Apart from Tiwari and Gupta, Sisodia filed the complaint against BJP leaders Hans Raj Hans Pravesh Verma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Harish Khurana. The summons were issued to all of them by the trial court in 2019.
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The defamation complaint was filed by Deputy CM Sisodia for their remarks at a press conference accusing him of having misappropriated public money worth Rs 2,000 crore in the name of constructing classrooms in Delhi government schools.
The top leaders were summoned by the Delhi court on November 28, 2019, to face trial in the defamation proceedings punishable under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Meanwhile, the Delhi high court in December 2020 refused to entertain the petitions by the BJP leaders for staying the summoning order. The Delhi HC said that "there exists sufficient ground to proceed" against the BJP leaders.
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With this, the two BJP leaders moved the Supreme Court to seek setting aside of the trial court order and argued that what they said was not defamatory. They also added the summoning order of the trial court was based on legally inadmissible evidence so it was illegal and contended that a prior sanction was required before prosecuting them.
