The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned the hearing on TMC leader Mahua Moitra's plea against her expulsion from the Lok Sabha for January 3, 2024, reported ANI. She was expelled from the House on Friday (Dec 8) after the lower house voted in favour of the motion to remove her as an MP from Lok Sabha. Her petition was put before the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti.
However, during the hearing, Justice Khanna said he received the file in the morning and needs more time to read it and hence asked to list the matter again on Jan 3, 2024, according to Live Law.
The matter came forth after Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey complained against Moitra accusing her of accepting cash and goods in exchange for asking questions for businessman Darshan Hiranandani. Later, in an interview, Moitra agreed that she shared her login credentials with Hiranandani but the accusations against her were not true.
However, the matter reached the ethics panel of the Lok Sabha which summoned Moitra as well. But, the TMC leader, after appearing before the panel, said she was subjected to verbal 'vastraharan'. The panel tabled its report finding Moitra guilty of the act and recommended that she should be expelled.
During the debate, the BJP accused Moitra of putting the reputation of the country and parliament at risk by sharing her login credentials with someone else and taking bribes in exchange for questions to be asked in the House.
The TMC leader has already filed a defamation suit against Dubey in Delhi Hogh Court alleging false and defamatory accusations against her in connection with the cash-for-query row. She moved the court against Dubey, advocate Jai Dehadrai, 15 media organisations and three social media intermediaries in what she said were false and defamatory accusations against her.
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