On Friday, January 6, a Mumbai court issued a non-bailable against Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut for failing to appear before the court for proceedings in a Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed against him by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife Medha Somaiya.
The Sewri metropolitan magistrate issued the warrant. The magistrate recorded the complainant Medha Somaiya’s statement and set the hearing for January 24.
Medha Somaiya’s counsel Advocate Vivekanand Gupta informed that despite court orders, the Shiv Sena leader remained absent from the court proceedings. “After this, we gave an application to issue a non-bailable warrant against Sanjay Raut, consequently, the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him,” Advocate Gupta informed.
Non Bailable warrant issued against #sanjayRaut today by 25th Magistrate court, Sewree, in defamation compliant filed by Mrs. Medha @KiritSomaiya against @rautsanjay61
— Adv.Vivekanand Gupta (@vivekanandg) January 6, 2023
Next hearing 24th Jan 2023@BJP4Maharashtra @BJP4Mumbai#Defamation #court pic.twitter.com/XdZmZ6cNVw
Taking to Twitter, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya informed about the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against Sanjay Raut and wrote, “Sewree Court issued Non-Bailable Warrant against #SanjayRaut for not attending the court. Court recorded Complainant Medha Somaiya’s statement for an hour, in Dr. Medha Kirit Somaiya’s defamation case against Sanjay Raut. Next hearing 24 Jan.”
Sewree Court issued Non Bailable Warrant against #SanjayRaut for not attending the court
— Kirit Somaiya (@KiritSomaiya) January 6, 2023
Court recorded Complainant Medha Somaiya statement for an hour, in Dr Medha Kirit Somaiya defamation case against Sanjay Raut
Next hearing 24 Jan@BJP4India @Dev_Fadnavis @mieknathshinde
This is not the first time the politician has been issued a warrant by the court in the case. In July 2022, Mumbai Metropolitan Magistrate had issued a bailable warrant against him for failing to appear in court. It is notable that during a hearing in the case in June 2022, the court had said that Prima facie, Sanjay Raut had harmed the reputation of the complainant.
“The documents and video clips produced on record prima facie revealed that the accused made defamatory statements against the complainant on April 15 and 16, 2022 so that it will be seen by public at large and read by the public in the newspapers,” metropolitan magistrate PI Mokashi had said.
It is worth noting that Medha Somaiya, wife of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya, filed a complaint against Sanjay Raut, accusing him of making malicious and unwarranted statements in the media about her and her husband. She had requested that he be charged under sections 503, 506, and 509 of the Indian Penal Code.
Medha also claimed that Raut planned to criminally intimidate and threaten her with character assassination without providing any proof. She later filed a defamation suit against Raut on May 24, 2022, seeking Rs 100 crore in damages.
Notably, Sanjay Raut in April last year had claimed that Medha Somaiya and the Yuva Pratishthan, a non-government organization managed by the Somaiya family, were involved in a Rs 100 crore toilet scam.
Sanjay Raut, the editor-in-chief of the Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’, had published an article stating that Medha had built unauthorized toilets and had cut mangroves without getting the requisite permissions from environmental authorities. It also added that she had looted the public money in the name of toilets and was leading a ‘fake and fraudulent NGO named Yuva Pratishthan.
Apart from the Saamna article, Raut had also repeated the allegations in bites given to electronic media. Medha Somaiya refuted the charges, saying he was saying this only to tarnish her reputation.
