A notice has been issued by Delhi High Court to ‘journalist’ Barkha Dutt in a plea seeking transfer of the criminal complaint filed by her against Congress MP Kapil Sibal to special PMLA court from Patiala House Court.The notice was issued by a single-judge Bench of Justice Anup J Bhambhani to Barkha as no one appeared for her in the court. The next hearing of the matter is scheduled on November 2.
Dutt had filed a complaint against Kapil Sibal, his wife Promila Sibal and their TV network company called Analog Media last year for allegedly committing a offence under section 420 of the IPC read with section 120B of the IPC. Barkha Dutt had accused Kapil Sibal and his wife, who were the promoters of the Tiranga TV, of firing the journalists working at Tiranaga TV without prior notice.
She had demanded damages worth Rs 74 lakhs along with interest from Sibal for allegedly terminating her contract early. It was alleged by Dutt that the senior employees of the channel including herself were not paid salaries by the channel for a year. She has compared Kapil Sibal with fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya for not paying the salaries of the chanel’s employees. The channel had shut down in July last year.
Dutt had also accused Promila Sibal of using derogatory language for the female journalists of the channel for which she had filed a complaint in the National Commission of Women (NCW). Kapil Sibal had denied the allegations leveled by Dutt claiming that the ‘journalist’ was already fired from the channel on disciplinary grounds before it was shut down.
