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A Rouse Avenue court on Wednesday dismissed a defamation complaint filed against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
This complaint was filed by Lipika Mitra, the wife of AAP leader Somnath Bharti. The court said that the statements made by the respondent (Sitharaman) are nothing but political opposition and antagonism aimed at AAP and the INDIA bloc. Nothing was aimed at the complainant, Lipika Mitra, and there is no imputation against her. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Paras Dalal declined to take cognisance and dismissed the defamation complaint filed by Lipika Mitra. "I don't see anything in this matter to proceed further. Cognisance declined, complaint is dismissed," ACJM Paras Dalal said. While dismissing the complaint, the court said that from the entire material on record, this Court is reminded of a rather unusual word which can describe the present complaint as well as the entire proceedings. "The word is 'floccinaucinihilipilification', which implies 'something valueless or worthless'. The present complaint is nothing but the word stated above, wherein a valueless or worthless material has been stretched too long," the court observed. The Court said that the press conference and averments made by the respondents are nothing more than political discourse amongst rival and competing parties. "Since no prima facie offence has been made out from the 'complaint of facts', this Court declines to take cognisance of the offence," ACJM Paras Dalal ordered on April 1. In May 2025, the court issued a notice to Nirmala Sitharaman, giving her the opportunity to be heard on the complaint. Advocate Zoheb Hossain, counsel for Sitharaman, has denied the allegations of Defamation levelled against her. Lipika Mitra had alleged that the proposed accused made defamatory, false, and malicious statements in a press conference published on YouTube and broadcast on national news channels on May 17, 2024. It was further alleged that these utterances were made by her during the election campaign of 2024 Lok Sabha with the sole intention to tarnish the reputation of Somnath Bharti, husband of the complainant, and weaken his chances of winning from New Delhi Parliamentary Constituency as INDIA bloc candidate and caused him immense mental anguish, and damaged his public standing as an elected representative and continue to damage it even today unless retracted or apologised. (ANI)
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