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Supreme Court stays defamation case against Kesri

The Supreme Court today stayed further trial in a defamation case against former Congress president Sitaram Kesri scheduled to begin tomorrow before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Prem Kumar.

The court also stayed trial in similar cases filed by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh at Pratapgarh in Chittorgarh in Rajasthan and before the civil judge of Purulia district in West Bengal.

The trials in all these cases were stayed by a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice M M Punchi, Justices K T Thomas and S Rajendra Babu on a petition filed by Kesri.

Besides seeking a stay of trial in these complainant cases, Kesri also sought transfer of these cases to Delhi for disposal together by a competent court.

The court has earlier issued notices to the complainants asking them why these cases should not be transferred to a competent court in Delhi.

The basis of all these defamation cases was an alleged statement made on February 15, 1998, that the RSS was responsible for the serial bomb blasts in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu a day earlier when the then BJP chief L K Advani was to address an election meeting.

Ranji Thomas, Kesri's counsel, earlier argued that since the course of action in all the defamation cases was the same, it would be in the interest of justice that they should be tried at one place together. The counsel sought stay of trial in all these cases till the disposal of the transfer petition.

UNI

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