A designated MP/MLA court in West Bengal on Friday issued summons to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to appear either personally or through a lawyer before it on 22 February in connection with a defamation case filed against him by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee.
The special judge of MP/MLA court at Bidhannagar directed that Amit Shah is “required to appear in person/by pleader” at 10 am on that day.
The judge directed that Shah’s attendance either personally or through a lawyer is necessary to answer to a charge of defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In a press note, Abhishek Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu claimed that Amit Shah had made certain defamatory statements against the Trinamool MP on 11 August 2018 at a rally of the BJP at Mayo Road in Kolkata.
In the meantime, Shah, while asking the youth to read about Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, said that a committee has been constituted under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, which will bring a big change in the country.
The Home Minister on Friday attended ‘Shauryanjali Programme’ which is a tribute to icons of Bengal at National Library here and motivated youth to read about the life of Netaji. “I want to say to the youth of the country that you should read about the life of Subhas Chandra Bose. His life journey will teach you a lot. A committee has been constituted under the Prime Minister to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji,” Shah said at the event. “PM Modi’s decision to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Subhas Chandra Bose will bring a big change in the country,” he added here.
Shah is on a two-day visit to West Bengal ahead of Assembly elections in the state.