In a blow to BJP leader Vijender Gupta, a city court on Monday said that prima facie an offence of defamation is made out against him in a criminal complaint filed against him by chief minister Sheila Dikshit.
Metropolitan magistrate Namrita Aggarwal ordered framing of charges against Gupta and fixed the matter for July 27 for formally framing charges against him.
The magistrate also directed Gupta to personally appear in the court on the next date of hearing.
The court said that even the contention of counsel for accused (Gupta) that since the editor, publisher or the reporter of the referred newspapers have not been examined, no case is made out against the proposed offender is premature.
“The complainant has a liberty to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt at a stage subsequent to framing of notice in a summons triable case. In this case, prima facie offence under Section 500 (punishment for defamation) IPC is made out against the accused,” it said.
During the hearing, the court granted exemption from personal appearance to both Dikshit and Gupta for the day. The court had on May 15 reserved its order on whether to frame charges against Gupta when Dikshit had also appeared before it.
Dikshit had appeared in the court on May 30 last year for recording her statement, after which Gupta was summoned as an accused in the case.