NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday stayed the trial proceedings against Delhi BJP spokesperson Harish Khurana in a defamation case filed by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia – back in 2019.
Single-judge bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma issued notice to Sisodia on Khurana's plea seeking quashing of the summoning order and a stay on trial court proceedings.
"…in the meantime proceedings be stayed qua the present petitioner," the court said granting relief to the BJP leader.
The court will, on March 10, hear further on the case and interim applications seeking a stay on proceedings and allowed time for Sisodia to respond on the main plea and the stay application.
Sisodia had filed the complaint against Khurana and other BJP leaders Hans Raj Hans, Manjinder Singh Sirsa – Members of Parliament Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Pravesh Verma, MLA Vijender Gupta and – for allegedly levelling corruption charges of Rs 2,000 crore against him in relation to the construction of classrooms in Delhi government schools.
Sisodia in the defamation case had stated that all the allegations made by the BJP leaders jointly were false, defamatory and derogatory and intended to harm and damage his reputation and goodwill.
Earlier, on January 5, Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma had stayed the trial proceedings considering the separate pleas of Hans and Sirsa and also issued notice to Sisodia. The BJP leaders were challenging the trial court’s December 23 last year order dismissing their applications seeking discharge in the defamation case.
The BJP leaders were challenging the trial court’s December 23 last year order dismissing their applications seeking discharge in the defamation case.