Delhi High Court refuses to stay criminal defamation case against BJP National Secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa

The Delhi High Court has refused to stay the proceedings before a trial court against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National Secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa in a criminal defamation case filed by a former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) President Manjit Singh GK [Manjinder Singh Sirsa v State NCT of Delhi and Anr]. .In an order pronounced on January 24, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said that prima facie, there is no infirmity in the order passed by the magistrate summoning Sirsa or the order of the sessions court dismissing a revision petition filed by the BJP leader against the magistrate’s order.The Court, therefore, concluded that there is no reason to stay the proceedings before the trial court.“Thus, upon a prima facie examination of the impugned order and without going much into the merits of the case, lest it affects the case of the petitioner or respondent no. 2 at a later stage before this Court or Trial Court, this Court finds that the learned ASJ has examined in detail, the issue of registration of FIR in relation to letter dated 04.04.2016 and simultaneous proceedings in the present complaint case for commission of offence of defamation, and at this stage, this Court does not find any reasons to stay the proceedings in the present complaint case,” the Court said..On June 30, 2023, the magistrate court had issued summons to Sirsa as well as Harmeet Singh Kalka and Jagdeep Singh Kahlon for allegedly making defamatory statements against Manjeet Singh GK.In his complaint, Manjit Singh had alleged that Sirsa and others co-accused made allegations that Singh was involved in the siphoning off and misappropriation of DSGMC funds.Sirsa and others also allegedly called Manjit Singh a ‘golak chor’ (thief of money donated to gurudwara) and ‘kalankit pradhan’ (stigmatised president)..Special MP/MLA courts can deal with offences against formers MPs and MLAs: Delhi High Court.Senior Advocate N Hariharan along with advocates Jasprit Singh Rai, Yoginder Handoo and Ashwin Kataria appeared for Manjinder Singh Sirsa.The State was represented through Additional Public Prosecutor Manoj Pant.Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur with advocates Naginder Benipal, Sumit Misra and Mayank Sharma appeared for complainant, Manjit Singh GK..[Read Judgment]