Guwahati: Having stirred a major controversy by alleging illicit relations between her late husband Padma Vibhushan Dr Bhupen Hazarika and Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeskar, Priyamvada Patel Hazarika has now been slapped with multiple defamation notices.
After Ms Mangeskar’s counsel and Dr Bhupen Hazarika Cultural Trust issued notices to Ms Hazarika, a Guwahati-based social organization Assam Public Works(APW) today asked the estranged wife of the late music maestro to tender an unconditional apology.
The APW, which has also written to the High Commission, Embassy of Canada, (Ms Hazarika being a Canadian citizen now), and Secretary, ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, has cautioned Ms Hazarika of slapping criminal charges against her if she failed to withdraw her defamatory statements.
Ms Hazarika, who arrived in Guwahati last month ahead of her husband’s first death anniversary, after a gap of over 50 years, had alleged in an interview to a local news channel here that Ms Mangeskar and her late husband had an illicit relation, which had finally led her to separate from Dr Hazarika. The APW, in its notice to Ms Hazarika, issued by its Supreme Court advocate Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, asked her to ‘immediately withdraw all the defamatory statements made in relation to Dr Hazarika and tender an unqualified apology in public immediately, for making this wrong and false statement and in any case within a week of receiving this legal notice’.
‘It may be indicated that my client also reserves the right to file appropriate proceeding against you in criminal as well as civil court and may be entitled to recover pecuniary damages,’ Mr Pandey said in the legal notice. (PTI)
In a letter to the High Commission, Embassy of Canada, Mr Pandey, on behalf of APW, requested the former that Ms Hazarika may not be permitted by the Government of Canada to visit India and her passport to that extent (visiting India) be withdrawn, adding that her statements could create tension between India and Canada, which otherwise enjoy friendly ties.
In a separate letter to the Secretary, ministry of External Affairs, the APW’s counsel has urged that Ms Hazarika be declared a persona non-grata in the territory of India and she may not be issued visa for entering into Indian territory and if any visa has been issued to her earlier, then steps may be taken for withdrawal of the same and thereafter it may be cancelled. (UNI)