Court grants relief to Congress MP Digvijaya Singh in 2019 defamation case

The 77-year-old congressional veteran welcomed the verdict (file photo)

Gwalior:

A special court in Gwalior on Tuesday acquitted Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh in a 2019 defamation case accusing him of posting a BJP/NSV team members engaged in espionage for Pakistan.

Special Judicial Judge Mahender Saini, who presided over the MP-MLA court, acquitted the former chief minister and member of the Lok Sabha of the charges leveled against him under Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.

“…invoking offense u/s 500 IPC is not worthy of acceptance,” the court said in its order.

The judge said the complainant “failed to prove that the accused (Singh) had defamed the BJP/RS workers through his remarks against them. Accordingly, the accused Digvijaya Singh was acquitted”.

The case was filed against Singh by lawyer Awdhesh Bhadoria.

Sanjay Shukla, defense lawyer for the Congress leader, told reporters: “The court found that the facts against Singh in this case were false and acquitted him.”

Shukla said the court cited exception to Section 9 of Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in its order (imputation made by a person in good faith to protect his own interest or the interest of others).

The exception is that imputations about the character of another do not constitute defamation if they are made in good faith, to protect the interests of the person making the imputation or of any other person, or in the public interest.

Shukla said the complainant failed to prove that he (Badoria) was a member of the RSS or the BJP.

The lawyer said the complaint was filed simply to ensure the issue – the controversial remarks – remained a matter of public discussion.

On August 31, 2019, Singh, while addressing a press conference in Biend, claimed that the BJP/RSV workers were involved in espionage activities in Pakistan.

Mr. Bhadoria later told reporters that he would appeal against the MP-MLA court’s verdict in the Madhya Pradesh High Court after research.

He claimed that the court recognized that Mr Singh had made such a statement, although it did not amount to defamation.

The 77-year-old congressional veteran welcomed the verdict.

“I can accept the court’s verdict. The court acquitted me. A total of six (defamation) cases were filed against me. Now, five are pending. Two were filed by the RSS and two by the AIMIM (People’s Liberation Army) of Owaisi One proposed by Congress MP Asaduddin. Owaisi’s party) and (yoga guru) Baba Ramdev,” the former chief minister said.

Mr Singh said of the defamation case against him: “If I tell the truth then I will be hurt but in the end the truth will prevail.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)