A metropolitan court in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad on Monday issued summons to Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav in a criminal defamation case over his "only Gujaratis can be thugs (fraudster)” remark. The court of Additional Metropolitan Magistrate DJ Parmar said that the senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader will have to appear before it on September 22 in a case filed against him under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal defamation. This comes after a 69-year-old social worker and businessman Haresh Mehtafrom Ahmedabad had registered complaints against Yadav earlier, reported news agency PTI.
The court had conducted an inquiry against Yadav under section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and had found sufficient grounds to summon him based on a complaint filed by Mehta, as per PTI's report.
Earlier this year, the Bihar Deputy Chief Minister had said: "Only Gujaratis can be thugs in the present situation and their fraud will be forgiven. Who will be responsible if they abscond after they are offered money belonging to the LIC and banks”, as quoted by PTI.
Subsequently, Mehta filed his complaint in court along with the proof of Yadav's statement made before the media in Bihar's Patna on March 21 this year. In his complaint, Mehta said Tejashwi Yadav’s public comments defamed and humiliated Gujaratis.
The complainant said a term like "thug" refers to a rogue, sly, and criminal person, and such a comparison will only cause non-Gujaratis to look at Gujaratis with suspicion. He also sought maximum punishment for Yadav, PTI reported.
This comes after a Surat court in March this year sentenced Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to two years in jail for his 'Modi surname' remark. Subsequently, he was also disqualified as a Lok Sabha member. However, a stay on the conviction by the Supreme Court on August 4 led to him being reinstated as Wayanad MP.
Earlier, a court in Ahmedabad also issued summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party colleague Sanjay Singh in a criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University for their media statements related to the HC judgment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree.