SDM who filed defamation case against Goel suspended

Officer alleged industries minister had made unsavoury remarks

HISAR The Haryana government has suspended sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Sandeep Singh, of Kanina town of Mahendragarh district. The order, that gives no reason for the suspension, has come just a few days after the SDM filed a defamation case against industries and commerce minister Vipul Goel, for allegedly making objectionable remarks against him during a grievance redressal committee meeting on September 20. The case had been filed under sections 500 (defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace).

According to the suspension orders that the Haryana governor has issued, during suspension, the SDM will be placed in the office of the chief secretary (CS) at Chandigarh and he would not leave the headquarters without obtaining the CS’s permission.

THE ISSUE

The SDM’s counsel, Jasbir Singh Dhillon, said, “At a grievance redressal meeting which the minister was chairing, a case relating to secretary, municipal committee, was taken up. He was not present, so the minister enquired about the SDM. Mahendergarh DC Garmia Mittal informed him that he was on leave from September 15-20.”

Dhillon added that at this, some BJP members of the grievance committee told the minister that the SDM is son of former education minister Bahadur Singh of the INLD. Dhillon quoted the minister as having then said, “If he is son of a minister, will he perform his duty from his home? Will his father do his work?”

Dhillon added, “The Haryana government has acted shamefully. The SDM took legal recourse available to him against a minister, who used objectionable language against him, when he was on leave due to his father’s ill-health.”

The DSM refused to comment, but confirmed to have received the order.

The Haryana government has acted shamefully. The SDM took the legal recourse available to him against a minister. JASBIR SINGH DHILLON, SDM’s counsel