Former IPS officer R B Sreekumar, who has filed a criminal defamation complaint against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders, today faced searching questions from a Delhi court which asked him how a party spokesperson's statement could be attributed to other office bearers.
"If a party spokesperson chooses to cite something as an example, then how can all party office bearers be held liable for it," Metropolitan Magistrate Akash Jain asked counsel for Sreekumar.
Sreekumar has also named BJP President Rajnath Singh, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi and Nambi Narayanan, a retired scientist of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), as accused in his complaint over the alleged attacks on him in the ISRO spying case.
During the hearing, the court asked this to Sreekumar's counsel after the lawyer said that his client was defamed by the press statement issued by Meenakshi Lekhi in which the former Director General of Gujarat Police was called a "traitor".
Sreekumar's counsel said that the former IPS officer was "nailed" in TV interviews by BJP leaders, who gave separate statements against him, and he was even called "anti-national".
"I (Sreekumar) am specifically being named as traitor in the press statement issued by Lekhi. This is the party's statement as being the party's national spokesperson, Lekhi is speaking on behalf of the party," he said.
