New Delhi, 13 December (H.S.): A witness for the complainant has recorded her statement in the criminal defamation case filed against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court.The court has fixed December 24 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

The complainant in the case, Lipika Mitra, is the wife of Aam Aadmi Party leader Somnath Bharti. During Friday’s proceedings, the statement of witness Manju Bansal was recorded on behalf of Lipika Mitra. Earlier, on November 29, the statement of another witness, Satish Kumar Nangia, had been recorded.

On October 8, the court had rejected Sitharaman’s plea seeking that Somnath Bharti’s vakalatnama (authorisation as advocate) on behalf of Lipika Mitra be withdrawn. Earlier, on May 23, while hearing Mitra’s petition, the court had issued notice to Sitharaman.In her complaint, Lipika Mitra has alleged that during the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign, Sitharaman made derogatory remarks against her in print and electronic media. She has contended that on May 17, 2024, Sitharaman referred to the marital dispute between her and Somnath Bharti for political gain.

The petition claims that the statement was intended to damage Bharti’s public image so that he would not succeed in the 2024 general elections.Somnath Bharti was the Aam Aadmi Party’s candidate from the New Delhi parliamentary constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Mitra has asserted that Sitharaman’s remarks were made solely to inflict political harm on Bharti and that the statement caused her mental anguish.

The petition seeks an order restraining Sitharaman from making such statements in future and directing her to withdraw the impugned remarks.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar