Ahmedabad : Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has been summoned to appear in a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad on November 4 in a defamation case filed against him by a Gujarat resident.
The summons was issued on Friday, but Yadav's lawyer Somnath Vats demanded exemption from his appearance, citing his busy schedule. The court accepted the request and asked Yadav to appear on November 4 to record his statement.
The case was filed by Ahmedabad resident Haresh Mehta over a statement that Yadav made on a private television channel on March 22, in which he allegedly referred to two Gujarati men as "thugs". Mehta alleged that Yadav's statement had hurt the sentiments of the Gujarati people.
During the hearing on Friday, the court submitted the original video of the media byte given by Yadav and recorded the statements of 15 witnesses from across Gujarat. The witnesses said that Yadav's statement had tarnished the image of the Gujarati people across the world and was likely to create animosity among the people of different states.
After the completion of the court investigation, summons were issued against Yadav. The summons was served at his home in Bihar.
