Defamation case: Delhi court summons Kapil Mishra as accused

Kapil Mishra (File)

A Delhi court on Tuesday summoned as accused sacked minister Kapil Mishra for allegedly defaming Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain by levelling graft charges against him. Metropolitan Magistrate Shefali Barnala Tandon directed Mishra to appear on January 20, 2018. Jain had filed a criminal complaint alleging that Mishra had made defamatory statements against him in the media. In his pre-summoning evidence, he had deposed that Mishra had also used his official Twitter handle to defame him.

The court had earlier taken cognisance of two complaints filed by Jain– one against Mishra and another criminal complaint against BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa. The complaints by Jain were filed on May 19. If convicted, the offence of defamation entails a maximum punishment of two years.

Jain in his plea against Mishra, who was earlier heading the water department in the city government, submitted that on May 7 he had made a statement accusing him of giving a bribe to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on May 5. He had also accused Sirsa of making libellous statements by levelling corruption allegation against him. He had said that these had caused irreparable damage to his reputation. Mishra, who is MLA from Karawal Nagar constituency, was suspended from the Aam Aadmi Party after he raised corruption allegations against Kejriwal and Jain.