BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa
The Rouse Avenue court summoned the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC)'s former President Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Harmeet Singh Kalka, and Jagdeep Singh Kahlon in a defamation case on Friday.
The complaint was filed by former DSGMC president Manjeet Singh GK.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Harjeet Singh Jaspal said, "There exist sufficient grounds to summon the accused persons Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Harmeet Singh Kalka, and Jagdeep Singh Kahlon under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code."
Accordingly, the three accused persons should be summoned. A copy of the complaint should be sent along with the process, the court said in the order passed on June 30.
While issuing the summons, the court said, "Having considered the facts and circumstances, the testimonies of the complainant witnesses, and the evidence placed on record, it prima facie appears that the accused persons have made specific defamatory statements, as aforementioned (golak chor, kalankit pradhan, usurper of land belonging to the Sikh community/DSGMC, etc.) against the complainant."
Further, prima facie, it appears that the aforesaid defamatory statements of the accused persons have been sufficiently published in the newspaper/electronic media, or social media, which may make the right-thinking members of society shun the complainant, the court said in the order.
"It appears that the accused persons, by their spoken words and by words that were intended to be read, have made defamatory imputations against the complainant, knowing and intending to harm the reputation of the complainant, " ACMM Jaspal observed.
However, the court clarified, "At the cost of brevity, it is again specified here that the discussion here cannot be said to be a comment on the final merits of the case, as the same is a matter of trial."
The complainant, Manjit Singh GK, has approached the court against Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Harmeet Singh Kalka, and Jagdeep Singh Kahlon upon allegations of defamation of the
complainant, at the hands of the accused persons.
It is the case of the complainant that the accused persons, by way of Press Conferences, media reports, social media, etc., have made defamatory statements against him, which
include but are not limited to phrases like golak chor (thief of public money of the gurudwara), kalankit pradhan (stigmatised president of the DSGMC), etc.
It was argued by advocate Nagender Benipal, counsel for the complainant, that the accused persons have been spreading defamatory, false, and frivolous information against the complainant through social media, print media, and electronic media, alleging that the complainant has handed over the property of the school called Guru Harkrishan Public School, Hari Nagar, New Delhi, to one Avtar Singh Hit, Chairman of Sukho Khalsa Primary Education Society, and an FIR has also been registered against the complainant for the alleged act of cheating and forgery by illegally attempting to
transfer the said land through a letter dated April 4, 2016, issued under the signature of the complainant while he held the post of President, DSGMC.
It was argued by the complainant's counsel that the said allegations are false and frivolous, and even the letter, as aforementioned, is false, and somebody has forged the signatures of the complainant on the said letter.
It was submitted by the complainant's counsel before the court that he himself filed an application seeking registration of an FIR to probe into the aforesaid forgery of signatures on the aforesaid letter, which purportedly transfers the land belonging to the aforementioned school in favour of the aforesaid Avtar Singh Hit. Consequent to the application of the complainant, an FIR has already been ordered by the Rouse Avenue Court on August 23, 2022, and the same has been upheld in revision on January 21, 2023, passed by the Special Judge, Rouse Avenue Court, Delhi.
The said FIR of the Police Station Economic Offences Wing has also been placed on record, as the court noted in the order passed on June 30.
The complainant's counsel stated in his complaint that in the preliminary inquiry conducted by the Investigating Agency, it has already come on record, through the statement of Avtar Singh Hit, that the complainant had not issued the aforesaid letter.
However, as per the complainant's counsel, despite knowledge of the entire proceedings and knowledge of the order of the court, Manjinder Singh Sirsa released a video and
stated that the complainant went to the court to get an FIR registered against the said accused; however, the court has ordered an FIR against the complainant himself, the court noted.