Court reserves order on defamation cases by Jain

A court here on Monday reserved order on the defamation complaint filed by Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain against sacked colleague Kapil Mishra.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shefali Barnala Tandon said that she will announce order on issue of summoning accused in the case or not on October 31.

Jain has alleged that on May 7, Mishra made a blatantly false, misleading, baseless, and defamatory statement to the media, claiming that he had handed over Rs 2 crore to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on May 5 at his residence.He said these statements were repeatedly telecast and printed by the national media across all platforms -- electronic, print and social -- which caused immense damage to him and his family.

The court will also deliver order on a separate defamation case of Jain filed against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

On May 19, Jain had filed two criminal defamation complaints against Mishra and Sirsa for allegedly defaming him by levelling graft charges against him. In the complaint against Sirsa, Jain said on May 9, the MLA made "libellous" statements by levelling corruption allegations against him. 

Making a statement on the basis of "hearsay" without any proof or evidence supporting it, was not only unbecoming of an MLA, but also a crime of defaming a person, he contended.

"Such statements, without any basis, have been put in the public domain to damage the reputation of the complainant. It has become a habit with the accused to make and circulate such falsehoods," Jain added. - IANS