Punjab court summons Congress chief in defamation case
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 15 May, 2023 11:45 AM
Chandigarh, May 15 (IANS) A local court in Punjab's Sangrur has issued a notice to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in a Rs 100-crore defamation case filed against him for "objectionable" remarks against the Bajrang Dal.
The court of civil judge (senior division) Ramandeep Kaur has summoned Kharge on July 10.
Kharge compared the Bajrang Dal with the outlawed PFI in the Congress party's Karnataka Assembly poll manifesto.
Petitioner Hitesh Bhardwaj, the founder of Hindu Suraksha Parishad Bajrang Dal Hind, had filed the defamation case against Kharge for making defamatory remarks against Bajrang Dal during the recently-concluded Karnataka elections.
He said the Congress leader compared Bajrang Dal with anti-national organisations and also promised to ban it after coming to power in Karnataka.
Out of total 36 people who died in the heart wrenching incident, the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy, Hitansh, while the eldest one was an 80-year-old woman identified as Jayvanti Devi, according to police. Most of the victims were women.
The Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday gave nod for hiking the compensation due to unseasonal rains by 25 per cent per acre. A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting held here.
The court had, on March 20, sent him to judicial custody till April 3. Judge Nagpal observed that the payment of advance kickbacks of around Rs 90-100 crore was meant for him and his other colleagues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.
The Delhi government has called an emergency meeting after the Covid cases spiked on Wednesday. A total of 300 new Covid infections in the last 24 hours were recorded in the national capital, which is a rise over Tuesday's 214 cases, as per the Delhi government health bulletin.
Asserting that the situation was likely to worsen in the coming days, Badal said the summer season had not started but the state power utility had started imposing power cuts of as much as eight hours per day even in cities.
In a video message to the farmers, he said several crops were grown on the fertile land but gradually the farmers confined themselves to paddy only. He said this has adversely affected the topography of the state in terms of excessive power consumption, depletion of water table as most of the blocks had gone in extreme dark zones, pollution due burning of stubble and others.
