A Delhi court on Friday summoned two legislators from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Vijender Gupta, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and rebel MLA from Aam Aadmi Party, Kapil Mishra, in a defamation suit filed by Delhi’s environment minister Imran Hussain.

The court directed the three leaders to appear before it on August 30.

Hussain had moved court against the three leaders on August 4 last year, claiming that they had levelled false allegations against him, after they allegedly carried out a protest on June 27 with posters against Hussain accusing him of taking bribes to allow the felling of 16,000 trees in the national capital.

Hussain in his plea said the three MLA damaged to his reputation, which is likely to “adversely affect his prospect in the future elections.”

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Samar Vishal said, “…allegations of the respondents are prima facie defamatory” and observed that “there exists sufficient grounds to proceed against the
respondents”.

In response to the court summons, Mishra said, “I am ready to face the defamation suit, but defamation is the only defence of the Aam Aadmi Party in the face of corruption allegations. There is no denying that under Hussain, more trees have been felled and the pollution levels in Delhi has increased.”

According to Sirsa, “Hussain ordered felling of thousands of trees and this is the biggest sin. If raising my voice against sinners fetches me “summons” or legal problems I am ready, but I will continue to raise my voice against people like Imran Hussain, who are the culprits of our environment.”

BJP leader Vijender Gupta said, “It is a political gimmick by AAP because we are exposing them and their corruption and they are trying to block us through these suits.”

First Published: Jul 13, 2019 08:23 IST