Dushyant Chautala threatens to sue Anil Vij for calling him 'drug addict'

CHANDIGARH: Hisar MP and senior Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader, Dushyant Chautala has sent a legal notice to the senior Haryana minister, Anil Vij asking him to tender unconditional apology for maligning his reputation by calling him a 'drug addict'.

In his statement, issued on April 3, 2018, Vij had stated before media that Dushyant has “stated taking Drugs and he should go to some Rehabilitation Centre”.

Vij, who is holding the portfolios of health and sports & youth affairs departments, had made the statement after Dushyant Chautala had alleged various scams in health department under him.

“Our client who is youngest Member of Parliament in Indian history has a very clean record and image and use of such defamatory language against him has hampered his public image. It is specifically denied that our client has had ever used any Narcotic drug or substance, whatsoever in his whole life, and the statement made by you is factually incorrect and a complete blatant lie with mala-fide intention to mislead the public and malign his reputation,” says the six-page legal notice sent by Chautala's lawyers to Vij.

In his legal notice, Dushyant has made it clear that if Vij failed to tender apology within a week, he would file a civil as well as criminal case for defaming him.

According to the counsels for Dushyant, in the month of March, 2018, the Hisar MP had held a press conference in Chandigarh where he had questioned various purchases and quotations made by the department of Health, National Health Mission and pointed out various irregularities and thus democratically demanded from the government of Haryana to take action against the culprits who are accused of corruption in the matter. The same was done in an extremely professional way and in a democratic manner as Hisar MP was duty bound by the Constitution to call the government to take action against the corrupt who were misappropriating public money and wasting the same in a hasty and a malafide manner.

“However, instead of doing your constitutional duty or replying to the contentions raised by my client, you made an extremely offending, degrading and embarrassing statement in press,” Ravinder Singh Dhull, counsel for Dushyant, has submitted in the legal notice.

Counsel has also submitted in the notice that Vij’s reference was deliberate, well thought and calculated plan to malign the reputation of his client, as the same was immediately circulated on various platforms, thereby, causing permanent and irreparable loss to his reputation.