'Thief' Remark| Lucknow Court Rules In Favor Of Ex-UP Minister In Defamation Suit Against AAP MP Sanjay Singh, Awards ₹1 Lakh Compensation

A Lucknow Court on Tuesday decreed a Defamation Suit in Favour of Ex-UP Minister (Presently an MLC) and BJP Leader Dr Mahendra Singh against AAP Rajyasabha MP Sanjay Singh. Sanjay Singh has also been directed to pay 1 Lakh as compensation to Mahendra Singh.

The suit was essentially filed by Mahendra Singh (Plaintiff) in response to Sanjay Singh's defamatory and derogatory remarks, accusing Mahendra Singh (the then State Jal Shakti Minister) of involvement in corruption within the Jal Jeevan Mission scheme of the state government. The court has also directed Sanjay Singh (Defendant) to delete video footage and social media posts about the said press conference wherein he had used defamatory language against the plaintiff (Mahendra Singh).

For Context, in August 2021, Sanjay Singh (Defendant) addressed a press conference in Lucknow wherein he alleged that the Jal Shakti Ministry of the state awarded contracts worth thousands of crores to a company with a tainted reputation. He had also called the then Jal Shakti Minister (Mahendra Singh/Plaintiff) a 'Paani Chor', 'Corrupted' and 'thief'.

Since Sanjay Singh did not appear before the court pursuant to the Summons served on him, the case proceeded ex-parte vide order dated April 13, 2022.

#BREAKING | Lucknow Court Decrees Defamation Suit in favour of Ex-UP Minister (Presently MLC) and BJP Leader Dr. Mahendra Singh [@bjpdrmahendra] against AAP Rajyasabha MP Sanjay Singh (@SanjayAzadSln) over making defamatory and derogatory remarks.

1 Lakh compensation ordered. pic.twitter.com/w0PdJc3d2z

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) January 3, 2024

From a perusal of the record including the copies of statements published by the defendant on his social media account as well as the statements made by the defendant in the press conference making corruption allegations against the plaintiff, the Court observed that the defendant had made Defamatory statements against the plaintiff.

Noting that the allegations against the plaintiff were found to be false in the police investigation, the Court opined that there was no rational basis to level such charges against the plaintiff.

Stressing that the Indian Çonstitution ensures freedom of speech to every citizen, but it also imposes reasonable restrictions on the use of this right, the Court said that the defendant should have acted with due diligence and exercised due care and caution, ascertain the truth and not use unparliamentary language till then.

"However, the defendant levelled corruption charges, called out names and did so repeatedly over the social media platform. In view of this Court, an unsubstantiated false charge for corruption is defamatory enough for filing a civil action. In the present case, the statements are categorically defamatory. The evidence of PW-3 and PW-4 shows how the same had lowered the esteem of the plaintiff in their eyes, though the same was later restored. The evidence on record stands unrebutted. There is nothing on record to disbelieve the same," the Court observed as it decreed the suit in favour of the plaintiff.

Dr. Mahendra Singh was represented by Prashant Singh Atal (Chief Standing Counsel) and his associates Ambuj Singh and Digvijay Singh.