Magistrate to examine evidence in defamation complaint against Tejashwi’s remarks on Gujaratis

The complaint filed by Haresh Mehta, vice-president of All India Anti-Corruption and Crime Preventive Council (Gujarat State)—an Ahmedabad-based voluntary organisation, alleged that Yadav had, on March 22, purportedly said during a media address, “Jo do thag hai naa, jo thag hai, thagi ko jo anumati hai, aaj ke desh ke halat mein dekha jayein toh sirf Gujarati hi thag ho sakte hai aur uske thag ko maaf kiya jaayega. LIC ka paisa, bank ka paisa de do, fir vo log leke bhaag jaayenge, toh kaun jimmevar hoga. (The two cheats that are there, the leeway given to cheats, if today’s situation in the country is seen, then only Gujaratis can be cheats and their cheating will be forgiven. They will be given LIC’s money, banks’ money and they will run away with it. Who will be held responsible?).”

Mehta submitted that he came across Yadav’s alleged defamatory and hurtful speech on YouTube on March 25 while watching ‘AajTak Digital News’ and has alleged that Yadav’s statements have defamed “the entire Gujarati community”. With such statements, people of other communities will “view Gujaratis as scoundrels, cheats and criminals”, he alleged.

“A “thag” is defined as “a person who is rogue, cunning rascal and criminal”… these words are used by the current elected member of Raghopur (Vaishali) constituency and the current deputy chief minister of Bihar who is also the Rashtriya Janata Party president and a prominent leader,” Mehta’s complaint states. Noting that Yadav is a politician of repute, the complainant also claimed that such statements that “casually” equate all Gujaratis to cheats have caused “mental and physical harm” to Gujaratis.

Advocate Prafulbhai Ratibhai Patel, president of the voluntary organisation, who also represents Mehta in the court, said the magistrate court would analyse the evidence provided by the complainant in the case. “We have submitted a CD and a pendrive containing the defamatory remarks of Tejashwi Yadav, which the court will examine. We will also be presenting two to three witnesses who are Gujaratis and have been hurt by his comments. If the court is satisfied following our submissions and the evidence we have provided, it will issue summons to the accused,” said Patel. He, however, refused to reveal the witnesses they would present before the magistrate and said the list would be provided to the court on May 20 when the matter will be taken up next.

Mehta has sought the magistrate court’s directions to lodge a criminal complaint under IPC sections 499 and 500 to issue summons or warrant against the defendant and seek Yadav’s presence in the court and to impose the “strictest of the punishment” on Yadav.

Notably, this is the second criminal defamation complaint involving political leaders after a Surat magistrate court convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for criminal defamation in March and sentenced him to two years imprisonment.

Meanwhile, an Ahmedabad magistrate court had, on April 15, issued a summons to Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in a criminal defamation complaint over their statements about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualification. Both leaders have been asked to appear on May 23 after the court has, prima facie, found a valid case of defamation in their statements.