Mumbai, Feb 17 (IANS) A Mumbai court on Tuesday put off the hearing in Shiv Sena(UBT) MP Sanjay Raut’s appeal against his conviction in a defamation case filed by Medha K. Somaiya, wife of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya.

The Sessions Court deferred the proceeding as there was no one present to represent Medha Somaiya.

Raut’s advocate Manoj Pingle said, “Today was supposed to be the final hearing, but no one appeared on behalf of the respondent. We completed some remaining arguments today. We presented some case laws based on Supreme Court judgments, and now whatever decision the honourable judge gives, we will accept it.”

In September 2024, a Mazgaon Metropolitan Magistrate Court held Raut guilty in the defamation case filed by Medha Somaiya in 2022 and awarded him 15 days’ jail plus a fine of Rs 25,000.

Shortly afterwards, Raut moved an application before the court, which suspended his jail sentence to enable him to file an appeal and granted bail.

Sharing details of the conviction, Medha Somaiya’s lawyer Vivekanand Gupta had said, “Raut has been convicted by the Metropolitan Magistrate, 25th Court, Mazgaon, in a defamation case filed by Medha Somaiya to 15 days in jail under IPC Section 500, and a fine of Rs 25,000 as compensation.”

The order came in the two-year-old libel suit filed by Medha Somaiya against Raut, who had alleged a Rs 100-crore toilet construction scam in Mira Road (Thane), linked to an NGO run by the Somaiyas.

Medha Somaiya, a professor of Organic Chemistry at Ruia College in Mumbai, dragged Raut to court for his “defamatory allegations” against her and her husband.

Raut has all along maintained that he had only posed relevant inquiries based on specific official documents, which had cast doubt on the toilet construction matter, a stance also supported by the leaders of the ruling Mahayuti alliance, and it was also discussed in the Assembly.

“So, where have I committed any defamation… This is merely a ploy to throw me in jail,” said Raut after the court held him guilty.

Soon after Raut’s conviction, Nationalist Congress Party(SP) Working President Supriya Sule and SS(UBT) Deputy Leader Sushma Andhare had slammed the case as politically-motivated. Among other things, Raut had claimed that Medha Somaiya was involved in the scam after which she had lodged the libel case.

Medha Somaiya and her husband had expressed happiness over the verdict and said that their faith in the judiciary had been vindicated.

“I am an ordinary housewife, engaged in social service and educational activities, but I will fight anyone who tries to harm my family members. I am satisfied with the court’s verdict. It will prevent others from making such absurd allegations,” Medha Somaiya told mediapersons soon after Raut was held guilty.

In 2022, Raut had accused Medha Somaiya and her family members of the alleged scam and claimed he had documentary evidence to back it up, but failed to produce the same.

The Somaiyas first lodged a complaint with the Mulund Police Station and then filed a defamation suit in the Mazagaon Metropolitan Magistrate Court, challenging Raut’s allegations and emphatically declaring that “not even a single rupee scam has been committed”.

–IANS

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