U.P. court orders AAP’s Sanjay Singh to pay monetary compensation to BJP leader in defamation suit

A civil court in Lucknow found Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh guilty of defaming former U.P. Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Mahendra Singh. The court ordered Mr. Singh to pay a compensation of ₹1 lakh to the plaintiff.

“The defendant is directed to pay a compensation of ₹one lakh to the plaintiff within two months. If the defendant fails to pay the same, the plaintiff shall be entitled to 6% p.a. interest from the date of this judgment to the actual date of payment,” ordered Judge Kamal Kant Gupta on Tuesday.

The BJP leader in his plea alleged that the Rajya Sabha MP in August 2021 held a press conference in Lucknow and made baseless allegations against him on corruption and later circulated the video of the press conference through social media. The U.P. Minister sought compensation over the defamatory remarks.

The court concluded that there was no rational basis to level such allegations against the BJP leader. “Though malicious intent cannot be ruled out, the defendant certainly acted with haste and negligence when he made categorical remarks naming a person,” said the court.

Both the leaders’ hails from Uttar Pradesh and served in the organisation of their respective parties. Hailing from Pratapgarh, the BJP leader occupied the post of national secretary and in-charge of Assam. He also served as Cabinet Minister of Ministry of Jal Shakti of the Government of Uttar Pradesh.