SC junks Manish Sisodia's plea to quash defamation case filed by Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 12

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday refused to entertain Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s petition challenging the Gauhati High Court order dismissing his plea for quashing a criminal defamation case filed against him by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Must face consequences

If you reduce public debate to this level, you have to face the consequences. Bench

“If you reduce public debate to this level, you have to face the consequences,” a Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul told senior counsel AM Singhvi, who represented Sisodia.

Sisodia had challenged the Gauhati High Court’s November 4 order dismissing his plea for quashing a criminal defamation case filed against him by Sarma.

The Bench said instead of realising what the country was going through during the pandemic, the petitioner was making such allegations.

Sarma had filed a criminal defamation complaint against Sisodia for making “baseless” corruption allegations against him in connection with the supply of PPE kits at “higher than market rates” to the National Health Mission (NHM) authorities during the first wave of the Covid pandemic.

The AAP leader had claimed that Sarma, as the state Health Minister in 2020, had given supply orders to the firm belonging to his wife. While such PPE kits were purchased from others for Rs 600 apiece, the same was bought from the company owned by Sarma’s wife at the rate of Rs 990 per kit, it was alleged. Sarma denied these allegations.

Singhvi told the Bench that Sisodia had nowhere said any money was taken.

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