HC exempts MNS chief from personal appearance in criminal case

The Delhi High Court today exempted MNS chief Raj Thackeray from personal appearance before a lower court, which is hearing one of the complaints lodged against him for allegedly making hate speeches against Bihar natives.
Justice S P Garg will now hear on December 4 as many as nine petitions of Thackeray filed against various orders of trial courts in Bihar and Jharkhand which had taken cognisance of private complaints against the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief.
The court also issued a notice to one Rakesh Kumar who had lodged a complaint against Thackeray at Bokaro in Jharkhand.
The complaints, lodged against Thackeray at various places in Bihar and Jharkhand for his alleged hate speeches, were transfered to Delhi following a direction of the apex court.

Meanwhile, another bench of Justice Hima Kohli ordered transfer of five petitions of Thackeray to the court of Justice Garg who has been hearing four similar pleas of the MNS chief.
Thackeray has moved the high court seeking quashing of complaints and subsequent coercive measures taken by trial courts against him.
The summons have been issued on "bald complaints" and they do not satisfy the ingredients envisaged under the penal provisions, one of the petitions said.
Two private complaints were filed at Muzaffarpur in Bihar in 2008 alleging that the leader made anti-Bihari remarks in his speeches and insulted the 'chhath pooja'. The lower court had issued summons against Thackeray after taking cognisance of the complaints against him.