New Delhi: A Delhi court summoned the editor-in-chief of Zee News, Sudhir Chaudhary, as an accused on Monday in a defamation complaint filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra against him and the television news channel in connection with a show aired by it on one of her speeches delivered in Parliament.
Metropolitan Magistrate Preeti Parewa directed Chaudhary to appear before the court on January 29, next year.
The matter came up for hearing after the Delhi High Court set aside the September 25 decision of a sessions court, which had put on hold the defamation proceedings going on before it against the channel.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP had challenged the sessions court's order, saying it ought not to have intervened in the case when it was at the pre-summoning stage.
In her defamation complaint, Moitra said her June 25 speech in Parliament was inspired by a holocaust poster in a US museum, containing 14 signs of early fascism, and that she had 'clearly attributed' the source as she stated that the signs were taken from the said poster.
The complaint claimed that the news channel ran a broadcast stating that her 'hate-filled speech' in Parliament was plagiarised.
Subsequently, Zee News filed a defamation complaint against Moitra for allegedly making statements against the channel to the media.
The alleged defamatory statements against the channel were made by the MP while she was speaking to reporters on the allegation against her.
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