Chandigarh court summons Sukhbir

CHANDIGARH : A court in Chandigarh has summoned Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief and former Punjab deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal on March 18 in a criminal defamation case filed by Akhand Kirtani Jatha spokesperson Rajinder Pal Singh.

In his plea, the complainant had alleged that Sukhbir had made defamatory remarks against him in January 2017, by associating him with Babbar Khalsa International.

The summoning order issued by the court of judicial magistrate first class Geetanjali Goel on Wednesday mentioned that the complainant is a devoted Sikh.

The order reads, “After going through entire oral as well as documentary evidence on record, it is observed that the accused has made defamatory statements against the complainant. The complainant and other witnesses have corroborated versions of each other.”

“There is sufficient evidence on file to prove against the accused and this court while believing the version of complainant on record orders to summon the accused under Section 500, 501 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” the court order said.

Complainant’s counsel PIP Singh, said, “On January 4, 2017, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal visited Rajinder Pal Singh’s house.

The next day, a news report was published about the visit, following which Sukhbir Badal gave defamatory statements in rallies and to the press, wherein he stated that RP Singh and the Jatha are political front of terrorist outfit Babbar Khalsa International, which is defamatory.”

The complainant had alleged that Sukhbir’s statement badly hit his image. The complaint was filed in January 2017.