A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut two weeks to deposit Rs 2,000 as the cost for allowing their condonation of delay plea in a defamation case while imposing an additional Rs 1,000 cost.
The MPs/MLAs cases court in June allowed the plea of both leaders for condonation of delay in filing their review application against the magistrate court’s order that rejected their discharge plea in the defamation case filed by Shiv Sena leader Rahul Shewale.
The court had imposed a cost of Rs 2,000 and directed the Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders to pay the amount within ten days from the order dated June 13.
The application filed by Thackeray and Raut, through advocate Manoj Pingale, stated the delay in depositing Rs 2,000 was unintentional and cited multiple reasons for it.
The order (for condonation of delay) was passed on June 13, 2024, and received the following day. While June 16 and 17 were subsequent public holidays, the petitioners approached the cash counter on June 18 and 19, but to date, the file (from court) has not reached there, the plea stated.
They (petitioners) approached to make payment again on June 22, but the clerk concerned who moved the file to the cash counter was busy with other work.
After approaching the counter the next day, the clerk didn’t accept the money as ten days had passed (since the order was passed), the application said, adding that efforts undertaken to deposit the amount are also on record.
Shewale’s advocate Chitra Salunke opposed the plea of Thackeray and Raut for additional time, saying it was a delaying tactic. Salunke said the amount (Rs 2,000) should be deposited immediately.
Shewale, a member of Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, had sought action against Thackeray and Raut under section 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code for publishing ‘defamatory’ articles against him in the Marathi and Hindi editions of the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.
Shewale objected to the articles, dated December 29, 2022, with their headlines claiming he owns a hotel and real estate business in Karachi.
The articles were a “concocted story”, “devoid of any merits” and a classic example of “vendetta journalism”, Shewale’s plea, filed January 2023, said.
Claiming to be innocent and falsely implicated in the alleged offence based on suspicion, Thackeray and Raut had filed a discharge application before a magistrate court. The plea was rejected in October 2023.
