A local court in Mumbai issued a bailable warrant against Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday as he failed to appear before it in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's wife.
The additional chief metropolitan magistrate court noted Mr. Raut stands charged with offences punishable under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. It said, “Bailable warrant in the sum of ₹5,000 be issued against Mr. Raut for his appearance before July 18 at 11 a.m. This is to authorise the arrest and produce him before the court.”
“If Mr. Raut shall give a bail bond of ₹5,000 with or without sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of arresting authority with undertaking to appear before court and continue attending until otherwise directed by the court, then he may be released,” the order read.
Professor Medha Somaiya, who teaches in a college affiliated with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, has filed a ₹100-crore defamation suit and asked that Mr. Raut either be ordered to pay or deposit the amount to the Chief Minister's relief fund as damages.
Ms. Somaiya said Mr. Raut had made allegations that she and her husband were involved in a ₹100-crore scam in building toilets in Mira Bhayandar of Thane district through Ms. Somaiya’s NGO. She had also filed a defamation suit against Mr. Raut before the Bombay High Court seeking an apology and retraction of the allegations made in articles published in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
