Lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai's Defamation Suit Against TMC Leader Mahua Moitra Withdrawn From Delhi High Court

Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai on Thursday withdrawn from the Delhi High Court his defamation suit against Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra.

Dehadrai had sued Moitra for allegedly making defamatory statements against him on social media as well as print and electronic media.

Advocate Raghav Awasthi appeared for Dehadrai and sought permission from the court to withdraw the suit, upon instructions from Dehadrai.

““Advocate Raghav Awasthi, counsel for the plaintiff, upon instructions from the plaintiff who is present in court in person, seeks permission to withdraw the suit. The suit is dismissed as withdrawn,” Justice Prateek Jalan said.

At the outset, Awasthi said that Dehadrai is willing to withdraw the suit subject to an undertaking or an assurance from Moitra that she will not make any palpably false statements against him.

Justice Jalan then remarked that the issue between the parties is getting escalated and that the parties should figure out a better way of solving the problem.

Advocate Samudra Sarangi appeared for Moitra.

“Whatever is placed before the authorities, you have (Moitra) defended yourself. You can leave it to the authorities to take it to a logical conclusion. There is certainly no reason… I don't intent to suggest that whatever the authorities do, there should not be any injunction against expressing your views about that but maybe personal allegations on both sides can be taken out of the public domain,” the court told Sarangi.

Justice Jalan suggested both the counsels to arrive at an agreed wording of the order which can be passed by the court in view of Dehadrai's stand of withdrawing the suit.

Sarangi then told court that there cannot be any settlement between Moitra and Dehadrai.

“I am not saying that. I am only saying that it would be of assistance you me on fashioning the agreed order if you both, counsel to counsel, you can both come to some agreed wording of what that order should be. That will sort it out as far as I am concerned,” Justice Jalan said.

He added: “Once these things are said in court in a case like this, it gets amplified for all sorts of reasons.”

Thereafter, Awasthi said on instructions that the suit be withdrawn unconditionally as a peace offering.

Summons in the suit was issued last month. Apart from Moitra, summons were issued to five media houses (CNN News 18, India Today, Gulf News, The Telegraph and The Guardian) as well as social media platforms X (formerly Twitter) and Google LLC.

Dehadrai had sought Rs. 2 crores damages from Moitra. He alleged that Moitra has called her “jobless” and “jilted.”

The suit also sought to restrain Moitra from publishing any allegedly defamatory material against Dehadrai on social media.

A direction was sought upon the media houses and social media platforms to take down the defamatory contents from the internet and social media platforms against Dehadrai.

It was Dehadrai's case that the only reason for filing the complaint against Moitra was a concern to report an incident, which according to him, was a “serious breach of national security” and “instances of corruption” by someone who occupied a high office and was a public servant.

However, as per the suit, Moitra portrayed Dehadrai to be a “revengeful ex-partner” who wanted to settle scores with her for an unsuccessful relationship.

Dehadrai has alleged that Moitra's statements have lowered his esteem in the eyes of his family members, friends and colleagues in the legal profession.

The suit stated that many of Dehadrai's existing and prospective clients are calling him and telling him that they do not want him to continue as their lawyer as he is a “revengeful person” who has defamed his ex-partner only with a view to settle scores over a bitter past relationship.

49-year-old Moitra was expelled as a Lok Sabha MP on December 08 last year, following the Ethics panel's determination of her guilt in connection with the “cash for query” allegations.

Moitra has been accused of receiving cash in exchange for posing questions on behalf of businessman and friend Darshan Hiranandani. In an interview with The Indian Express, she had accepted the fact that she had provided her Parliament login and password details to Hiranandani, however, she had refuted the claim of receiving any cash from him.

Title: JAI ANANT DEHADRAI v. MAHUA MOITRA & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 493