TEJASHWI PRASAD YADAV Vs. HARESHBHAI PRANSHANKAR MEHTA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondent filed a private complaint against the petitioner in the Court of the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Ahmedabad, alleging commission of the offence under Sec. 499, which is punishable under Sec. 500 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, 'the IPC'). The learned Magistrate issued a summons on 28/8/2023. The present petition seeks a transfer of the complaint from the Court in Ahmedabad to a Court in Delhi.

(2.) The complaint is based on the utterances of the petitioner, which formed part of a public statement made by the petitioner on 22/3/2023, which was reported by both electronic and print media. It is alleged in the complaint that the petitioner made a public statement to the following effect:-

(3.) This Court issued notice on 6/11/2023 and granted a stay of proceedings of the Complaint. At that time, the statement of the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner was recorded that he would seek necessary instructions from the petitioner. The petitioner filed an affidavit dtd. 18/1/2024. Paragraphs 1 to 4 of the said affidavit read thus: