Court Raises Doubt On Jurisdiction In AAP Satyendra Jain's Defamation Case Against BJP Leader

A special court for lawmakers raised doubts over its jurisdiction in a defamation case filed by AAP leader Satyendra Jain against BJP's Karnail Singh.

New Delhi:A special court for lawmakers on Thursday raised doubts over its jurisdiction in a defamation case filed by AAP leader Satyendra Jain against BJP's Karnail Singh saying the latter was neither a sitting or former MP or MLA. Additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal sought the clarification on whether the case could be tried before him as his was a special court "to try lawmakers".

"Clarification is sought by this court if the present case can be tried before this court since only the complainant is a sitting member of legislative assembly and the proposed accused is neither a sitting or an ex-MP or MLA," said the court. The judge posted the hearing on February 19, after the complainant's counsel sought time to place on record case law on the query.

Jain field the criminal defamation case against Singh for allegedly damaging his reputation during a television interview on January 19.

According to the complaint, Singh made a defamatory statement as part of an interview aired on a television channel, where he reportedly claimed that ED recovered 37 kilogram gold from Jain's home and the AAP leader had 1,100 acre of land in his name while alleging the wealth was amassed from corruption and money laundering.