Criminal defamation: Activist Anand Teltumbde seeks sanction to prosecute Maharashtra ADGP

He stated that all the allegations levelled at him during the press conference are false and contended that it has damaged his long-standing hard-earned reputation as a management expert.

Human rights activist Anand Teltumbde (Photo | YouTube)

MUMBAI: Well-known human rights activist Anand Teltumbde has sought sanction to prosecute Maharashtra's Additional Director General of Police Parambir Singh for criminal defamation.

Teltumbde's residence in the campus of Goa Institute of Management, where he is currently working as Senior Professor and Chair, Big Data Analytics, was raided by a team of Pune police on August 28 along with other 6 activists from five states, and at a press conference held on August 31, Singh had read out a letter allegedly written to Teltumbde by a member of banned Maoist organization CPI (Maoist).

Teltumbde has, in the letter, stated that all the allegations levelled at him during the press conference are false and contended that it has damaged his long-standing hard-earned reputation as a management expert and hence demanded sanction to prosecute Singh.

"The entire exercise of raiding my home in Goa and the press conference taken by Mr. Param Bir Singh have sullied my reputation before my students, academic colleagues, corporate contacts and the public at large and reputation of my family, wife and two daughters who are respected professionals in their own fields. My reputation has been irreparably damaged due to which I am also suffering professionally," Teltumbde has written in his letter addressed to the Principal Secretary (Home) and sought the sanction to prosecute Singh.

"Since the injury caused to me has been a direct result of Mr Param Bir Singh's malafide and motivated actions, and since Mr. Param Bir Singh has publicized falsehoods against me knowing them to be untrue. Therefore, I am desirous of filing a criminal defamation proceeding against him, and am accordingly request you to grant sanction against him under CrPC,"

Teltumbde has further stated in his letter. Teltumbde has also opined in the letter that, "since the defamation was not carried out in the course of his duty, no sanction under Section 197 of the CrPC is required for initiating criminal defamation proceedings against Mr. Param Bir Singh" and that he should "be at liberty to agitate before an appropriate forum".

Teltumbde has also mentioned in the letter that he is a Mechanical Engineer and an alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad and also holds a PhD in Cybernetics. He has worked in the corporate sector and had held several high positions including that of the Executive Director of the State-owned Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Managing Director and CEO of a holding company, Petronet India Limited. After the stint in the corporate sector he also taught management at the Vinod Gupta School of Management at IIT, Kharagpur and then joined the Goa Institute of Management.

"The entire exercise of raiding my home in Goa and thereafter, holding the press conference to malign me is nothing but a part of the larger attempt to discredit all persons who are critical of the policies of the present government," Teltumbde has stated in the letter while saying that he had already spoken about such attempts "to demonize all the critics and dissenting voices in the country" in several of his interview.

However, it couldn't be confirmed whether the state administration has received the letter and if yes what would be its action as Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Sunil Porwal had to be admitted to the Bombay Hospital on Tuesday after he suffered injuries to his ribs and lungs due to a fall in a washroom. (EOM)