[MJ Abkar v. Priya Ramani] Delhi Court to pronounce order on issue of transfer on October 22

District & Sessions Judge, Rouse Avenue, New Delhi will pronounce order on October 22 on the issue of transfer of MJ Akbar's defamation case against Priya Ramani from a Special MP/MLA Court. [MJ Abkar v. Priya Ramani]

. Order was reserved by Sujata Kohli, District & Sessions Judge-Cum Special Judge (PC Act/CBI) after hearing counsel for MJ Akbar and Priya Ramani.

. Yesterday, a Special Court for MP/MLAs (Special Court), which has been hearing the case for two years, had opined that since the case was not "against" any MP or MLA, it needed to be transferred.

.[MJ Abkar v. Priya Ramani] Case not filed against MP/MLA; Needs to be transferred: Delhi Court. Accordingly, the defamation case was sent to the District & Sessions Judge for issuance of appropriate directions.

. Today, appearing for MJ Akbar, Senior Advocate Geeta Luthra requested that the matter be sent back to the Special Court as there was no order which barred it from hearing cases initiated by any MP or MLA.

. "Two years back, the case was marked to his court (Special Court).. both of us (complainant and accused) argued in detail. I am on the stage of rebuttal. ", she said.

. Counsel for Ramani, Advocate Bhavook Chauhan submitted that although initially it was agreed that there would be a "joint request" to send the matter back to the same court, upon reading the notification in issue, it was clear that the Special Court was solely for MP/MLAs.

. Nonetheless, it is upto this Court to decide now, he said.

. The Court observed that while the notification created no bar on hearing of other cases, the object behind the notification was to expedite cases against MP/MLAs.

. " Seeing that, a complaint by an MP/MLA should not be covered. This notification was passed long back in 2018. This case was filed in 2018 only. None of the officers took note of it. None of the counsel took notice and everything continued.." , the Court added.

. Clarifying that this was only a "discussion", the Court further stated that in the absence of jurisdiction, the consequence could be very dangerous as the entire trial could be held to be de novo.

. At this point, Advocate Chauhan pointed out that when a complaint was made by MP Mahua Moitra, the same was sent before a Magistrate, Patiala House Court and not to a Special Court.

.Delhi Court summons Sudhir Chaudhary in criminal defamation case by Mahua Moitra. In response to the issues raised by the Court, Senior Advocate Luthra stated that a transfer at this stage would cause prejudice to the complainant (MJ Akbar) and that the proceedings could be saved under Section 462 CrPC.

. "I am the one who is going to be prejudiced. There is urgency.. ", she said.

. Advocate Sandeep Kapur for MJ Akbar reiterated the submissions made by Luthra.

. After hearing the parties, the Court proceeded to reserve order on the point of transfer.

. Order will be pronounced on October 22 at 4 pm.

. In case a direction is passed to transfer the case to a non-Special MP/MLA Court, the proceedings would go back to the stage of final arguments.

. Read the complete account of the hearing here:

.Will MJ Akbar's defamation suit against Priya Ramani be transferred to another Judge after two years? [LIVE UPDATES]

[MJ Abkar v. Priya Ramani] Delhi Court to pronounce order on issue of transfer on October 22

Aditi Singh

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