Defamation case against Sanjay Raut: Rajya Sabha MP caused complainant agony, says court

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Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut, despite being a Member of Parliament (MP) from whom "high degree of responsibility" is expected, did not take "care and caution" while making certain statements, stated a Mumbai court while convicting him in a defamation case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya's wife Medha.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Aarti Kulkarni had last week convicted Raut for an offense committed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 500 (defamation). The Rajya Sabha MP was sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined Rs 25,000. However, the court later suspended the sentence for one month, enabling him to challenge the order in a higher court, news agency PTI reported.

In the detailed order made available on Thursday, the court said Medha Somaiya is a well qualified and reputed personality and that her image was shattered owing to the defamation. "She has suffered mental agony," the court said in its order in the defamation case against Sanjay Raut.

As an MP, a high degree of responsibility is cast upon Raut while expressing himself in public, the court said.

"The accused made statements through the media against the complainant without due care and caution. He, in spite of having knowledge that the complainant can be defamed, has not taken due care and caution and made defamatory statements and published them,' the court said.

Therefore, it will not be just to give the benefit of probation to the accused, the magistrate said while passing the conviction order in the defamation case against Sanjay Raut.

On the quantum of punishment, the court said, considering the mental agony Medha Somaiya had to face owing to the defamatory statements, it is just and proper to impose simple imprisonment of 15 days along with a fine of Rs 25,000.

Medha Somaiya, in her complaint filed through advocate Vivekanand Gupta in 2022, claimed Raut had made "baseless and completely defamatory allegations" against her and her husband in media by accusing them of being involved in a scam worth Rs 100 crore in the construction and maintenance of some public toilets within the Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation limits.

The statement was printed, published and circulated to the general public at large through electronic and print media as well as social media, she stated in her plea in the defamation case against Sanjay Raut.

The statements made by the accused to the media are per se defamatory and have been made to "malign my character in the eyes of the general public", her plea further said.

(With PTI inputs)