From Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued directive to former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma for restraining himself from making any defamatory statement against Chief Minister Mukul Sangma. Issuing an interim order, Justice Manmohan Singh also summoned the Tura MP to appear before the court.
The case will come up on November 24 next, according to Atul Chitale, a senior advocate who appeared on behalf of the Chief Minister.
The High Court has put an injunction on any derogatory remarks against Mukul Sangma by his principal political adversary Purno Sangma, the advocate said.
Our Reporter adds: Earlier, the Chief Minister slapped a whopping Rs 25 crore defamation case on the Tura MP for the latter’s sensational accusation that the Chief Minister is the ‘ common chairman of all militant outfits operating in the state’.
It was during a news conference in Shillong on January 16 this year prior to the Lok Sabha elections that Purno , who was the candidate of NPP, made the comments alleging nexus of the Chief Minister with the militant outfits in the state. This statement of the former Lok Sabha Speaker was widely reported in the media, but the Chief Minister singled out The Shillong Times and Times Now TV channel for restraining these two media houses from publishing any such stories.
The suit filed on September 26 by Delhi-based advocate Suchitra A Chitale on behalf of the Chief Minister in Delhi High Court also sought a perpetual injunction directing the two media houses to remove the ‘defamatory’ news from their websites, archives and the resultant capture of content from social media.
The lawyer of the Chief Minister also demanded apology from the media houses for airing/publishing the news.
Following the comments made by the sitting MP, the Chief Minister on January 18, while reacting to the allegations said that he( Purno) had the habit of making such slanderous statements “particularly when elections are round the corner”. The Chief Minister had also reminded his political bete noire that allegations must be specific and should not border around mere speculations.