Bhopal, Sep 29: A non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued against Union Minister Uma Bharti by a local court today for not appearing before it in connection with a 13-year-old defamation case registered against her by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
The senior Congress leader had registered the case against the then BJP chief ministerial candidate Bharti after she alleged that a scam of crores of rupees had arrived during Singh’s occupancy of the title as the state’s chief minister between 1993 and 2003.
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Bhubhaskar Yadav said senior police officers should put the arrest warrant to execution, while rejecting the Union Water Resources Minister’s application, moved by her lawyer Harish Mehta, soliciting exemption from showing up during the court hearing today due to an important commitment.
Mehta appealed that his client be exempted from the trial on the ground that she was otherwise engaged in a meeting concerning the Cauvery water dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu in the aspect of Supreme Court’s order.
However, the plea was dismissed by CJM Yadav stating that Bharti is not appearing to record her statement in association with the defamation case since October 2015 and enough time has already been given to her in the 13-year-old case.
It maybe noted that earlier in February, the then CJM Pankaj Singh Maheshwari had asked Bharti and Singh to be present at a mediation or reconciliation centre along with their lawyers to settle their differences, but it didn’t manifest.
