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Synopsis

On Thursday, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma of the Delhi High Court stayed the trial court proceedings against Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Hans Raj Hans and Manjinder Singh Sirsa in a defamation case filed by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The single-judge bench issued notice on the two pleas filed by the BJP leaders challenging the trial court's summoning orders dated November 28, 2019.

During the hearing, Senior Advocate Kirti Uppal appeared for Hans Raj Hans, and Advocate Pawan Narang appeared for Manjinder Singh Sirsa.

The counsel apprised that one of the summoned persons, Vijender Gupta had invoked the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court by filing a criminal appeal, and by order dated October 17, 2022, the court had set aside the summoning order of the trial court against him. It was also submitted that another summoned person, Manoj Tiwari had also filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court, which was dismissed, however, his appeal was on the limited point of the interplay of Section 199(2), and 199(6) of the CrPC.

The single-bench was also told that after the summoning order, the counsel for BJP leaders approached the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) for discharge from the present case, however, the same was dismissed by an order dated December 23, 2022.

Furthermore, the counsel submitted that the Supreme Court in Vijender Gupta’s plea returned a finding on the summoning order that the tweet in question does not amount to defamation, and the case against the petitioners requires re-examination.

Noting that the case against present petitioners, Hans and Manjinder requires re-examination, the single-judge bench stayed on the trial proceedings and listed the matter for hearing on March 10, 2023.

Hans and Manjinder and four others namely, Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Vijender Gupta, Harish Khurana, and Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma were issued a summons by an ACMM under Section 500 (punishment for defamation) read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

In 2019, Delhi’s Deputy CM Manish Sisodia sued the six BJP leaders for defamation after they alleged corruption in the building of classrooms in Delhi’s government schools.

Case Title: Hans Raj Hans, Manjinder Singh Sirsa v. Manish Sisodia & Ors.