The Delhi High Court on Wednesday fined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and four of its members, including Alka Lamba, Rs.10,000 each for their delay in filing their written statements on a defamation plea moved against them by former party member Vinod Kumar Binny.
Joint Registrar Neera Bharihoke imposed the cost on the AAP and AAP members - Lamba, Manoj Kumar, Raju Dhinghan and Bandana Kumari - as they were delayed in filing the written submissions. They filed their submissions on Wednesday).
In October last year, Justice Manmohan Singh while transferring the defamation case to joint registrar for completion of pleading had asked the AAP and its members to file written statements and listed the matter before the joint registrar on January 7, 2015.
However, the party and its members did not file the written submission in the case. As the case came up on Wednesday for hearing, the joint registrar imposed Rs.10,000 and posed the matter for July 27 for further hearing.
The court was hearing a civil defamation suit filed by Binny seeking damages from the AAP, Lamba, Manoj Kumar, Dhinghan and Bandana Kumari for allegedly maligning his reputation by their "false defamatory remarks and illegal protests".
He has sought from the AAP punitive damages of one rupee, to be deposited in a blind school, Rs.50 lakh from Lamba and Rs.50 lakh total from the other three party members.
Binny has been accused by Lamba of claiming in a Facebook post that she was running a sex racket from her home.
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Binny said someone had created a fake account in his name to malign him. Binny's advocate Rahul Raj Malik has told the court that Binny had already informed police and authorities about the fake Facebook account.
In her complaint to police against Binny and 37 others, Lamba had said Binny had posted a comment on his social networking account that in a police raid at her house, two girls were arrested for sex trade.