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The Rouse Avenue court on Thursday issued notices to Delhi CM Atishi Marlena and AAP MP Sanjay Singh on a defamation complaint filed by former Congress MP Sandeep Dikshit.
Dikshit is contesting the Delhi State Assembly election against former CM Arvind Kejriwal from New Delhi Constituency. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Paras Dalal issued the notices to CM Atishi and AAP MP Sanjay Singh for January 27. The notices have been issued to give the proposed accused an opportunity to be heard before taking cognizance of the Complaint. A case under Section 223 read with Section 222(1) of BNSS, 2023 for summoning, trying and punishing the accused persons for the commission of offences under Section 356 read with Section 3(5) of BNS, 2023. Sandeep Dikshit has filed a complaint through advocate Sarim Naved and alleged that the accused organized a press conference dated December 26, 2024, in New Delhi wherein defamatory allegations were made against the complainant and Indian National Congress (INC), the political party that he represents. The complaint said that the accused alleged that the complainant has not just accepted "crores of rupees" from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), but INC, and he has even colluded with the BJP with the objective of defeating the AAP. It also stated that the accused did not substantiate their allegations with any material evidence. The complaint mentioned that Atishi in the presence and with the concurrence of MP Sanjay Singh alleged that INC and the complainant were in collusion with the BJP to defeat the AAP. "Therefore, the defamatory act of accused persons is part of the same scheme of things with the nefarious objective to defame the complainant," it said. It is also stated that the live proceedings of the press conference were even shared by CM Atishi through her X handle on the same date with the following caption, "BJP is helping Congress in the Delhi election". "Moreover, the said X post has over 30,000 (thirty thousand) views on Twitter and has been shared widely. Further, the news of defamatory statements has been widely carried by national newspapers," the complaint said. It further alleged that the facts and circumstances clearly reveal that the accused by words, both written and spoken, has made and caused to be published imputations against the complainant intending to harm his reputation and has thereby committed the offence of defamation punishable under Section 356 of BNS, 2023. The complaint alleged that the legal notice was sent on January 2, 2025, but the defamatory tweet on platform X continues to be available online. (ANI)
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