The Delhi High Court today issued summons to Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra on a defamation suit filed against her by advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.
Issuing summons, Justice Prateek Jalan said that this was a case where both parties seemed equally at fault and nobody can claim to be the victim or perpetrator. The court remarked that Mahua Moitra and Jai Anant Dehadrai are both warring parties, neither victim nor a perpetrator.
The Delhi High Court directed Mahua Moitra to reply to Dehadrai’s interim relief plea to restrain her from making defamatory allegations against him by April 1. Nonetheless, the court did not pass any direction on the interim relief plea after Dehadrai did not press for the same.
The High Court also issued summons on the suit as well as notice on interim relief to media houses namely India Today, CNN News 18, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Gulf news, Google and X (formerly twitter). The case is scheduled for hearing on April 8.
In the defamation suit, Jai Anant Dehadrai sought damages from Mahua Moitra for various abusive and defamatory statements that the Trinamool Congress leader made about him on several media including electronic media as well as social media handles alleging that he was jobless and jilted. Beside an injunction order against Mahua Moitra, Dehadrai has also sought damages to the tune of Rs 20000,100.
Jai Anant Dehadrai’s defamation suit followed weeks after the Delhi High Court dismissed a petition by Mahua Moitra seeking to restrain Dehadrai and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey from posting any fake and defamatory content about her on social media in the cash-for-query scandal.
Dismissing the plea, the court ruled that Mahua Moitra did not make full disclosure in her petition. The Trinamool Congress leader was expelled from the Lok Sabha after a Parliamentary Ethics Committee found her guilty of unethical conduct in the cash-for-query scandal. The Ethics Committee panel called for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by the government into the charges against her.
Furthermore, Jai Anant Dehadrai has alleged that Mahua Moitra admitted to him that she gave her Parliament login and password details to businessman Darshan Hiranandani but denied taking cash from him.