Sheila fined 3 lakh for ` court absence
A Delhi court on Saturday imposed a fine of ` 3 lakh on former Delhi chief minister Ms Sheila Dikshit for failing to appear before it in connection with a defamation case filed against her by former Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta.
It was the second time when the court slapped a fine on Ms Dikshit in connection with the same matter. In January, the court had slapped a fine of ` 50,000 on her for not appearing before the court. Ms Dikshit had deposited the fine amount.
While imposing the fine on Ms Dikshit, metropolitan magistrate Neha directed that out of ` 3 lakh, ` 2 lakh be deposited with Delhi State Legal Services Authority ( DLSA) and ` 1 lakh be given to Mr Gupta.
The court then fixed December 20 as the next date of hearing and asked Ms Dikshit to appear before it.
Ms Dikshit, who resigned as Kerala governor on Tuesday, moved an application in the court seeking a day’s exemption from personal appearance on the ground that she was preoccupied with some political work.
The plea, however, was opposed by Mr Gupta’s counsel saying the court had earlier directed Ms Dikshit to appear before it on Saturday without any fail or excuse and she was trying to delay the matter. Advocates Anil Soni and Harish Katiyal, appearing for Mr Gupta, said Ms Dikshit was deliberately trying to delay the matter because she has no case against the BJP leader.
On the last date of hearing, the court had fixed the hearing for Saturday on the request of Ms Dikshit’s counsel who had said that she would appear on any Saturday in August.
Ms Dikshit had not appeared in the court on the last date of hearing also citing official tour.
The court, on August 6 last year, had framed criminal defamation charges against Mr Gupta in the complaint filed by Ms Dikshit.
Ms Dikshit had filed a complaint against Mr Gupta alleging that the BJP leader had used “uncivilised” language against her in the run up to the MCD polls in 2012 while accusing her of helping and conniving with power companies.