BHOPAL: Former Congress legislator from Mahidpur seat of Ujjain district, Dr Kalpana Parulekar, was granted bail immediately after being sentenced to a year in jail and a fine by a judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) court in a defamation case.
The case was filed against her by former Madhya Pradesh State assembly principal secretary Bhagwandeo Israni.
The judicial magistrate first class Sandhya Manoj Srivastava found Parulekar guilty of criminal defamation under Section 500 of the IPC, and sentenced her to a year in prison along with a fine of Rs 2,000, Narendra Bhavsar, lawyer for Bhagwandeo Israni told the New Indian Express.
Bhavsar added that Parulekar, as the MLA from Mahidpur, had held a press conference in the State assembly building in November 2009 and released a bunch of documents, levelling over 30 allegations against then principal secretary of State Assembly Bhagwandeo Israni to the media.
Kalpana Parulekar had made a series of allegations against Israni at the press conference, including his involvement in corruption and getting a State government job despite being a minor.
“We first sent her a legal notice seeking an apology for making unfounded allegations against my client. But she refused to apologise and instead replied that she was ready for a court battle,” said Narendra Bhavsar.
Subsequently in 2010, a criminal defamation case was filed by Israni against Kalpana Parulker in the Bhopal court. “During the course of trial, two judges asked Parulekar to apologise, but she refused,” added Bhavsar.
She was subsequently pronounced guilty and sentenced to jail with a fine, said Bhavsar.
“Her counsel requested the court to be lenient as it was her first offence, but we objected to it and submitted that she is also accused in another defamation case filed in an ADJ court by former MP Lokayukta retired Justice PP Naolekar,” said Bhavsar.
“The court granted bail to my client Kalpana Parulekar later on the production of personal surety bond worth Rs 5,000,” said Parulekar’s counsel Jitendra Soni.
Soni said the future course of action about challenging the JMFC court verdict in the sessions court would be decided once they receive a copy of Tuesday’s court order.