New Delhi: The Supreme Court Monday rejected Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's plea to dismiss the defamation case filed against him by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The criminal defamation suit against Sisodia was filed by Sarma in July this year in the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court of Kamrup district after the former alleged unfair purchasing of PPE kits by the firm run by Sarma's wife Riniki Bhuyan Sarma. After the setback Sisodia has withdrawn the petition to quash the defamation case.
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During the pandemic, Sisodia had held a press conference wherein he had made remarks against the Assam CM and had accused him of giving the PPE kits' contract to his wife's company at a more expensive rate. Following it, Sarma filed a defamation case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate.
Summons were issued to Sisodia who later challenged it in Guwahati High Court. The court, however, dismissed Sisodia's petition following which he moved the top court. On Monday, the SC bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Abhay S Oka observed that Sisodia should have "unconditionally apologised".
"If you reduce the public debate to this level you must face consequences," Justice Kaul remarked. "Instead of realising what the country was going through, you were just making accusations," the judge said. The court dismissed the plea as withdrawn.
