Mumbai: A Mumbai court on Thursday sentenced Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut to 15 days simple imprisonment in a defamation complaint filed against him by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's wife Medha Somaiya. The metropolitan magistrate (Sewree court) convicted the Rajya Sabha member under Indian Penal Code Section 500 (punishment for defamation) and also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.
Medha Somaiya, in her complaint filed through advocate Vivekanand Gupta, had alleged that Raut made baseless and completely defamatory allegations against her and her husband. She said Raut had accused them of being involved in a Rs 100 crore scam over the construction and maintenance of some public toilets under the jurisdiction of the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation.
"The statements made by the accused to the media are per se defamatory. The statements have been made to malign my character in the eyes of the general public," the complaint had stated.
The court granted Raut bail and asked him to pay Rs 15,000. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya alleged that police had refused to accept his wife's complaint against Raut under pressure from the then Uddhav Thackeray government.
"We had to approach the court to get our case registered, and after 28 months, we got justice," Kirit Somaiya said, speaking to reporters here along with his wife after the court's ruling.
"Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister of Maharashtra when Sanjay Raut levelled allegations of Rs 100 crore corruption against me and my wife who runs Yuvak Pratishthan, an NGO that consults on toilet construction. The original tender amount was Rs 3.61 crore," he said.
"We tried filing a police complaint against Raut, but it was not accepted because of Thackeray's pressure. We approached the local court here on May 18, 2022, and today, it gave its judgement," Kirit Somaiya added.
According to Somaiya, Raut levelled 27 different allegations against him and his family between February and July 2022 but never produced a single document to support them.
Medha Somaiya said she and her husband would not tolerate baseless allegations. "This case against Raut would set an example for society. If someone tries to tarnish me or my organisation, I will stand up against it," she said.
Advocate Vivekanand Gupta, one of the lawyers who represented Medha Somaiya, said they had sought two years' prison sentence for Raut during arguments on the quantum of punishment
