The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the trial court that no further action be taken against BJP MP Manoj Tiwari in a defamation lawsuit filed by former deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued notice on Tiwari’s plea in relation to the defamation case and scheduled the matter for further hearing for November 20, 2023.
Sisodia filed the defamation case against BJP leaders Manoj Tiwari, Hans Raj Hans, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Harish Khurana, and Vijender Gupta in 2019 for allegedly making defamatory statements against him in connection with the alleged corruption of nearly Rs 2,000 crore in the construction of classrooms in Delhi’s government schools.
The trial court proceedings involving Sirsa, Hans, Verma, and Khurana have already been stayed.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Tiwari, argued that the Supreme Court, in deciding Tiwari’s SLP in connection with the defamation case, only addressed the question of grant of sanction under the CrPC and that the subsequent petition was maintainable in light of certain “subsequent facts.”
The counsel informed the court that out of the six accused persons, the proceedings against Vijender Gupta had been quashed by the Supreme Court, while the proceedings against the other four BJP leaders, barring Tiwari, had already been stayed.
It was argued that extending the proceedings against Tiwari would be of no use because they had already been stayed against other defendants.
The petition, which included a request for a stay of proceedings, was strongly opposed by Sisodia’s counsel, Rishikesh Kumar, who said that the petition was an “abuse of court process.”
He argued that there were no additional facts in the case and that the Supreme Court had dismissed Tiwari’s SLP, thus continuing the proceedings against him would be detrimental to Sisodia, who has not seen any progress in the matter in the last five years.
The BJP leaders were issued summons by an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate under sections 500 read with 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 in 2019.
