TMC's Mahua Moitra gets breather: Lawyer says can withdraw defamation suit if…

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Dehadrai said that he is ready to withdraw the suit "if Moitra makes a statement that she will not make statements against him which are palpably false," the Bar and Bench Reported.

Dehadrai alleged that the former MP from West Bengal made defamatory comments against him, and said in interviews to the media that he is "jobless" and "jilted".

Reacting to this, advocate Samudra Sarangi, who appeared for Moitra, said that "he will obtain instructions on the same".

Meanwhile, Justice Jalan said the suggestion by Dehadrai is "positive that if the two sides come to an understanding about not making personal allegations against each other..."

"If it is possible to take this dispute out of the public domain and play it before the statutory authorities or privately then that seems...," the court observed.

Dehadrai's lawyer then said that he was withdrawing the suit unconditionally. "I would then like to withdraw this suit. I would like to withdraw unconditionally," he said. The court allowed the request.

The defamation case

Dehadrai had filed a defamation suit against Moitra, seeking directions to restrain her from making any defamatory allegations against him.

The ₹2-crore defamation suit also sought orders against a few media organisations to take down the defamatory content against him and not to publish such content against him, Bar and Bench reported. Similar directions were also sought against X (formerly known as Twitter) and Google.

Dehadrai had alleged that Moitra accepted bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani for asking questions in Parliament. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey had filed the complaint before the Lok Sabha Speaker earlier.

Moitra then sued Dehadrai and Dubey for defamation. However, the high court had rejected the TMC leader's plea for interim injunction. It reportedly held that the allegations that Moitra shared her parliamentary login credential with Hiranandani and received gifts from him were not "totally false".

During the last hearing of Dehadrai's defamation case on April 8, the high court had said that just because there is no injunction against him, he cannot keep making allegations against Moitra even though his suit is pending.

"If this continues, then Moitra has a right to defend herself," the Bench had said. Justice Jalan had also cautioned Moitra that she cannot make palpably false statements against Dehadrai or call him a 'lunatic'.

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Published: 25 Apr 2024, 02:34 PM IST