[Dhyandev Wankhede defamation suit] Tell us why contempt notice shouldn't be issued: Bombay High Court to Nawab Malik

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik to file an affidavit stating why a contempt of court notice should not be issued against him for deliberately breaching his statement to Court that he will refrain from making defamatory statements against Dhyandev Wankhede, father of NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede, and his family members. .The directions came after Dhyandev Wankhede brought to the notice of Bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav certain interviews given by Malik wherein he allegedly continued with his tirade against Wankhede's family. .Malik had given an undertaking before the Bench on November 25 that he will refrain from making any defamatory statements till the interim application filed in Wankhede's defamation suit is reheard by a single-judge of the High Court.This had been breached, claimed Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf, and produced an affidavit showing the instances where Malik made defamatory statements after the order of November 25..While perusing the statements submitted to him, the Division Bench enquired if what Malik had stated was in his personal capacity or as a Minister. "If he is giving in his individual capacity then we will call him here right now," the Bench warned. On instructions, Malik stated that he had made those statements as spokesperson of the NCP. .The Bench made a prime facie observation that Malik has breached the statement made before the Court. Before proceeding to take any action against Malik, the Bench deemed it fit to direct him to file an affidavit setting out why action contempt of court should not be taken against him for wilfully breaching the statement recorded in the order. .The Bench directed Malik to file an affidavit setting out his stance before the next date of hearing which has been fixed for December 10, 2021. .The dispute between Wankhede and Malik arose when the former filed a defamation suit after the latter had shared Sameer Wankhede’s purported birth certificate on his Twitter handle, while allegedly imputing that Wankhede’s father was a Muslim and his name was ‘Dawood’.In the suit, Dhyandev Wankhede claimed that the tirade against his son started only after Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested by the NCB in January this year for an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act).The suit sought directions to be issued to Malik to pay damages to the tune of ₹1.25 crore for allegedly making defamatory comments against his son and his family in press conferences and on his social media account.Through an interim application filed in the case, Wankhede had sought a temporary injunction restraining Malik from making any statements in the future about him and his family members..Malik had, in the last week of November, submitted a proposal to the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of the interim order which, even though in his favour, made adverse observations against him. After Wankhede accepted the proposal, the High Court quashed and set aside the single-judge order on November 29 and remanded the interim application for hearing before another single-judge. .Malik had made a voluntary statement on November 25 of not making any defamatory statements against Wankhede's family, which was continued by way of an undertaking on November 29, 2021, which the High Court recorded in its order. .Saraf appeared with Advocates Divakar Rai, R.S.Rane, Nitin Rai, Bhavika Solanki, Saurabh Tamhankar for Wankhede. Advocates Karl Tamboly, Shraddha Dube Patil, Komal Bhoir instructed by Jay and Co. appeared for Malik.