New Delhi: Congress leader Jagdish Tytler was today directed by a Delhi court to appear before it on May 31 in connection with a defamation case filed against him by a lawyer, who is appearing for victims in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Gaurav Rao asked Tytler to appear in person before him on May 31 when he is likely to frame notice in the case.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Tytler said the Congress leader should not be asked to appear in person before the court.
The complaint against Tytler was filed by senior advocate H S Phoolka, who had alleged that the Congress leader made a derogatory remark about him in a news programme aired on a private news channel on September 7, 2004.
Phoolka, who is now a Lok Sabha candidate of Aam Aadmi Party from Ludhiana, in his complaint filed in 2006, alleged that Tytler had levelled false and derogatory allegations against him to harm his reputation in society.
Advocate Kamna Vohra, appearing for Phoolka, had earlier told the court that Tytler should also be prosecuted for the offence of criminal intimidation under section 506 of the IPC.
"In furtherance of his intention to scare and silence the complainant (Phoolka), the accused (Tytler) extended threat to the complainant vide his statement made in a (TV) programme... Thereby clearly conveying his intention to liquidate the complainant and by doing so he has tried to install fear and sense of insecurity in the mind of the complainant," Vohra had said, while reading out the complaint in the court.
The court has also kept pending Tytler`s plea seeking permanent exemption from personal appearance before it in the case.
The case against Tytler was filed in a Ludhiana court in Punjab. Later on, it was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court on Tytler`s plea.
