Delhi High Court seeks Mahua Moitra’s stand on defamation lawsuit by lawyer Jai Dehadrai

Justice Prateek Jalan also seeks the stand of the expelled Lok Sabha MP on lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai's plea seeking interim relief with respect to the publication of the alleged objectionable content on social and digital media

Mahua Moitra. File photo

PTI

New Delhi, March 20

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued summons to TMC leader Mahua Moitra on a lawsuit by her estranged friend seeking damages of Rs 2 crore for her alleged defamatory statements against him.

Justice Prateek Jalan also sought the stand of the expelled Lok Sabha MP on lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai's plea seeking interim relief with respect to the publication of the alleged objectionable content on social and digital media.

Dehadrai's counsel said he was losing business and clients as a lawyer on account of Moitra's statements on social media.

The court questioned Dehadrai's counsel on the urgency to seek an interim order at this stage without awaiting Moitra's reply, adding it was not a case of victim and perpetrator as both were "warring parties" and the content was published over two months ago.

"This is as much your doing as anyone else’s. It is very difficult to paint yourself as a victim. You are both warring parties. There is no victim or perpetrator," Justice Jalan remarked.

"These are cases where half of the battle is fought in court and half the battle is fought elsewhere," added the judge.

Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha on December 8 following accusations by the plaintiff that she took bribes from businessman and Hiranandani Group CEO Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament.

Advocate Raghav Awasthi, appearing for the plaintiff, said his allegations against Moitra had been verified by a parliamentary committee, the Lokpal as well as the high court which recently refused to restrain him from posting content against her on social media.

Best is to give Moitra time to file a reply, the court said as it asked the politician to file her stand on the case.

The court also asked social media platforms Google and X as well as certain media organisations to file their responses.

The matter would be heard on April 8.