BJP leader Jolly booked for defacing Shoma Chaudhary's house

BJP leader Vijay Jolly was Thursday booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code for defacing the name plate and pouring black paint in front of the residence of Tehelka's former managing editor Shoma Chaudhury.

A case under the IPC and the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act was registered at the Saket police station.

Officials said policemen have been deployed outside Chaudhury house and one has been deputed for her security.

An internal inquiry has also been marked against an inspector who was found standing outside Chaudhury's house when the protest took place.

Earlier in the day, around 50 Bharatiya Janata Party members led by Jolly reached Chaudhury's house in Saket area in south Delhi and raised slogans against her.

Jolly painted the name plate black and also wrote a word with black paint. He also poured black paint outside Chaudhary's house. Police deployed outside the house managed to disperse them.

Jolly said Chaudhury was suppressing facts and evidence against the magazine's editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal, accused of sexually assaulting a woman colleague.

"Shoma Chaudhury should be arrested for irresponsible statements. She was aware of the ill-doings of Tejpal. Despite that, she suppressed the matter to insulate the image of the organisation and her boss," Jolly said.

The protest began soon after news of Chaudhury's resignation came out Thursday afternoon.

The BJP, however, distanced itself from the incident.

Senior party leader Nitin Gadkari said he heard that some workers protested outside Chaudhury's house but the party had nothing to do with it and it was not organised by the BJP.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said: "I will never agree with this method of protest. Both I and Arun Jaitley had told Jolly not to stage such a protest."

"Party president (Rajnath Singh) will take action against him (Jolly), but I totally condemn it," she said.

Chaudhury's resignation came 10 days after a woman journalist with the news magazine wrote to her and accused Tejpal of sexual assault during a conference organised by the magazine in Goa earlier this month.

Jolly in a press statement said the protest was spontaneous and was not organised by the BJP. He said it was a decision taken on the spur of the moment.