Mumbai court acquits Sanjay Raut in defamation case filed by BJP leader Somaiya's wife

Mumbai, Feb 26 (PTI) A sessions court here on Thursday allowed the revision application of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, acquitting him in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's wife Medha Somaiya.

The BJP leader's wife had claimed that the Rajya Sabha member made baseless and completely defamatory allegations in the media against her and her husband, accusing them of being involved in a Rs 100 crore scam related to the construction of public toilets in the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation area.

A magistrate court last year convicted Raut and sentenced him to 15 days in jail in the case.

The Sena (UBT) leader later filed an appeal before the sessions court for cases against MPs and MLAs, challenging the magistrate's ruling.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, Additional Sessions Judge Mahesh Jadhav allowed his plea on Thursday.

During the final arguments earlier this month, Raut's lawyer Manoj Pingale said the articles in question did not defame anybody.

Senior advocate Laxman Kanal, representing Medha Somaiya, argued that an enquiry report had made it clear that there was no scam as alleged by the Sena (UBT) MP.

The work was assigned through tender in 2007 to five NGOs, including one linked to the Somaiyas, and there could not have been a Rs 100 crore scam as the total value of the project was Rs 22 crore, he said.

On September 26 last year, a judicial magistrate held Raut guilty of defamation under the Indian Penal Code section 500. Besides sentencing him to 15 days in jail, the court had also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.

While convicting Raut, the magistrate had ruled that Medha Somaiya is a well-qualified and reputed personality; her image was shattered due to the defamation and "she has suffered mental agony".

Raut is an MP, therefore, "a high degree of responsibility" is cast upon him while expressing in front of the public, the magistrate noted, but later suspended the sentence, enabling him to challenge the order in the higher court.

In his revision application before the sessions court, Raut said the magistrate's order was "bad in law and improper on facts". PTI AVI GK