The Delhi High Court has sought a response from Delhi Police on a petition by Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut seeking quashing of an FIR against him for allegedly using abusive language in a TV interview. The petition was heard by Justice Mukta Gupta on February 15 and would be listed for further hearing on April 6.
The FIR for the alleged commission of offences under Sections 500 (Punishment for defamation) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code was filed on a complaint was filed by BJP National General Secretary Deepti Rawat Bhardwaj who alleged that Sanjay Raut had outraged the modesty of the female political workers.
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Raut has contended that the uncontroverted facts in the FIR did not establish any offence and an objective evaluation of his statements would show that no reasonable person would ever conclude that his utterances had a pernicious effect on the reputation of any person or generic class of political workers.
Raut, represented by lawyer Shreeyash U Lalit, has further argued that the words used in the interview were not defamatory or targeted towards insulting any woman and the allegations made against him were frivolous and made with an ulterior motive. It is further argued the statements do not even have the effect or tendency to outrage the modesty of any particular female political worker or class of workers as the matter was so trivial that no ordinary person would complain of such harm.
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With PTI Inputs
