LUCKNOW: In a major jolt to jailed Aam Admi Party MP Sanjay Singh, a Lucknow court, on Tuesday, slapped a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on him to be given as compensation to former Jal Shakti Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Dr Mahendra Singh in connection with a defamation suit.
Dr Mahendra Singh had approached the court with a defamation suit against the AAP leader's defamatory and derogatory statements accusing him of being involved in alleged corruption on Jal Jeevan Mission of UP government.
The Lucknow Sessions and District Court’s Civil Judge Kamalkant Gupta also ordered the jailed AAP MP (defendant) to delete the social media posts and also the video footages about the press conference in which he had levelled allegation against the plaintiff (Dr Mahendra Singh), the then Jal Shakti Minister of UP, using defamatory language against him.
In his order, dated January 2, 2024, which was uploaded on Wednesday, the civil judge said that levelling baseless and frivolous charges against leaders of rival political parties had become a habit of Sanjay Singh. He could not present evidence to support his allegations whereas the plaintiff was a responsible leader of the BJP and he had the image of a respected leader.
The court also said in the order that if the defendant failed to pay the compensation to the plaintiff within two months, “the plaintiff shall be entitled to 6 percent per annum interest on the principal amount from the date of this judgment till the actual date of payment,”.
Notably, Sanjay Singh had addressed a press conference in August 2021, in Lucknow wherein he claimed that the Jal Shakti department had awarded contracts worth thousands of crores to a company with a tainted reputation. Going a step ahead, the AAP leader had called the then Jal Shakti minister 'paani chor'
(water thief) and corrupt.
The court proceeded to deliver the ex-parte vide order dated April 13, 2022, as Sanjay Singh failed to appear in the court despite repeated summons.