Delhi High Court directs transfer of Barkha Dutt's criminal complaint against Kapil Sibal to Special MP/MLA Court

The Delhi High Court has issued directions for the transfer of senior journalist Barkha Dutt's criminal complaint against Member of Parliament and Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal to the Special MP/MLA Court in Rouse Avenue Court Complex. (Barkha Dutt vs Analog Media).The order passed by Single Judge Bench of Justice Anup J Bhambhani reads, .".. considering that one of the respondents/proposed accused in the case is a sitting MP, let criminal complaint case being CT No. 9933/2019 (old CC No. 395/1/2019) be transferred from the court of the learned Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi to the court of learned District & Sessions Judge, RADC, New Delhi, for assignment to the concerned Special Court set-up for dealing with criminal cases against sitting MPs forthwith.".Earlier this year, Court had issued notice in the transfer petition which was taken up after an Office Note was moved by the District & Sessions Judge, Patiala House Court..Dutt had filed a complaint against Kapil Sibal, Promila Sibal and their TV network company, Analog Media for an alleged commission of offence under Section 420 IPC read with Section 120B IPC..The complaint arose from the untimely shutting down of Analog Media's Tiranga TV, a news channel..Dutt, in her complaint, alleged breach of contractual obligations and the assurances tendered to her qua the viability of running the channel even after General Elections 2019..While the complaint was filed before the Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, subsequently, an application was moved to transfer the same to the competent court ie. Special MP/MLA Court at Rouse Avenue..Pursuant to the application, an Office Note was sent by the District & Sessiosn Judge, Patiala House Court to the High Court seeking an order to the effect..District & Sessiosn Judge, Patiala House Court had stated that since a transfer to the Special MP/MLA Court would be an inter-sessions division transfer, it could only be done by the High Court..The complaint is at the pre-summoning stage and was filed through Advocates Raghav Awasthi and Mukesh Sharma..Read the Order: