Delhi High Court: In an application under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (‘BNSS’) for speedy hearing filed by Santanu Sinha, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (‘RSS’) member, who was being prosecuted for criminal defamation against Amit Malviya (‘respondent 2’), a BJP politician, President of I.T. Cell, Co-In charge of West Bengal Chapter, regarding a Facebook post, a Single Judge Bench of Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, JJ., considering Malviya’s undertaking that he shall seek an adjournment in the complaint case before the Trial Court and request the Trial Court for adjournment till after a hearing in the present petition for quashing the proceedings, disposed of the plea for early hearing.
Background
A writ petition was filed by Santanu under Article 226 of the Constitution read with Section 528 of the BNSS seeking quashing of the complaint filed by Amit Malviya before the Patiala House Court (‘Trial Court’) and the order passed therein whereby notice was issued to Santanu in terms of the proviso to Section 223 of BNSS. In the previous order dated 20-11-2024, the Court issued notice to Amit Malviya.
The Court was informed, vide an affidavit, that the three Facebook posts in question were deleted with a view to put a quietus to the dispute. Santanu was seeking an early hearing in the writ petition due to the matter being listed before the Trial Court on 10-03-2025.
The Court bound Amit Malviya to his statement, made via an undertaking, that he shall seek an adjournment in the complaint case before the Trial Court and request the Trial Court for adjournment till after a hearing in the present writ petition.
Analysis
The Court refused to allow the application due to the heavy board of the Court.
The Court also exempted Santanu from personal appearance before the Trial Court until further orders.
[Santanu Sinha v. State of NCT Delhi, CRL.M.A. 6296 of 2025 in W.P.(CRL) 3616 of 2024, decided on 03-03-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the petitioner: Swarnendu Chatterjee, Deepakshi Garg, Amit Halder, Amit Roy, and Harshita Rawat
For the respondent: ASC (Crl.) Amol Sinha, Kshitiz Garg, Ashvini Kumar, Chavi Lazarus, Sanskriti Nimbekar, Sr. Advocate Arvind Nayar, Amit Mishra, Kabir Shankar Bose, Abhijeet, Mitakshara Goyal and Siddhartha Sinha
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