The senior advocate and BJD MP has been accused of making objectionable remarks against advocate Siddhartha Singh in an interview to a newspaper
New Delhi: A defamation complaint has been filed against senior advocate and Biju Janata Dal’s (BJD) Lok Sabha member Pinaki Misra by another lawyer in a court here for allegedly making objectionable remarks in an interview to a newspaper in August last year.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal took cognisance of the complaint and posted the matter for February 2 for examination of the complainant.
In his complaint, advocate Siddhartha Singh has sought Misra’s prosecution under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code for alleged defamatory remarks against him in an interview to the newspaper, saying they “diminished the public image of the complainant and severally affected professional life also”.
Singh claimed that Misra made the remarks after he had filed a complaint before Bar Council of Delhi against him over “unprofessional” conduct for representing discoms before the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
He submitted that Misra was the chairperson of a Parliamentary Standing Committee set up in relation to violation of e-waste management rules by the discom companies and the committee submitted a report claiming that power companies were at fault and had violated e-waste management rules.
The committee report had recommended punitive actions against those companies, the complaint read.
However, Misra started representing the same power companies before NGT against whom the report had recommended punitive actions, it claimed.
Singh had filed a petition before the NGT on behalf of a Delhi resident against power companies in relation to alleged violation of e-waste management rules.
Singh, thereafter, filed the complaint before Bar Council of Delhi accusing Misra of “severe misconduct”, following which the alleged defamatory remarks were made, the complaint added.
Misra in his reaction said, “The petitioner is a crook and a blackmailer. I will prove this in the court.”
