Bengal special court summons Amit Shah in defamation case

A special court for MPs/MLAs on Friday issued a summons for Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He has been ordered to either appear in the courtroom himself or through a lawyer on February 22. The summons have been issued in connection with a defamation case filed by Abhishek Banerjee, who is Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP from Diamond Harbour constituency and Mamata Banerjee's nephew.

According to the order by the special judge of MPs/MLAs court at Bidhannagar, Shah or his lawyer are to appear before the court at 10:00 am on February 22, 2021.

The defamation case has been filed against Shah over allegations he levelled against Banerjee during a political rally back in August 2018. "... Narada, Sarada, Rose Valley, Syndicate's Corruption, Nephew's corruption, a series of corruption has been by Mamataji," Amit Shah had told the crowd at the rally in Kolkata, India Today cited Banerjee's plea as saying.

Banerjee's complaint against Shah also mentioned another quote from the Home Minister's speech at the rally in question. According to the complaint, Shah had said, "The residents of the villages in Bengal, has the money reached your village? Please say loudly. Has the money reached your village? Where did it go? Where? Modiji had sent it. Where did Rs 3,59,000 crore go? This has been gifted to the nephew and the syndicate. This has been sacrificed at the altar of corruption by the Trinamool Congress."

Abhishek Banerjee, who took objection to these statements, had filed a criminal defamation case against the Union Home Minister on August 28, 2018.

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