Pathankot, March 10: Swaran Salaria, who had contested on the BJP ticket from the Gurdaspur Lok Sabha seat last year, has sued Cabinet ministers Navjot Singh Sidhu and Manpreet Singh Badal and several newspapers for allegedly defaming him in the run-up to the October 11 byelection.
Salaria said he had filed a criminal defamation suit in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kapil Aggarwal under Sections 500 (whosoever defames a person shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both) and 501 (whosoever prints or engraves any matter, knowing or having good reason to believe that such matter is defamatory of any person, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both) of the IPC.
The court has fixed April 20 for presenting preliminary evidence.
Salaria said he had also sent legal notices to both leaders. “If they will not reply to the notices, I have told my lawyer, Meena Tarnaich, to file civil defamation suits seeking Rs 100 crore each from Sidhu and Manpreet.”
Salaria had lost to Congress candidate Sunil Jakhar by more than 1.9 lakh votes.
News source: http://www.tribuneindia.com
