Uddhav Thackeray, son Aaditya Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) Member of Parliament Sanjay Raut were on Tuesday, March 28, issued summons by the Delhi High Court in a defamation suit filed by Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, a close aide of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. According to the plaintiff, Uddhav and the two others named above made frivolous allegations against Shiv Sena and its members. As per the allegations, the Thackerays and Raut said the Eknath Shinde faction bought the Shiv Sena symbol for ₹2000 crore.
The suit filed by Shewale was heard by the Bench of Justice Prateek Jalan of the Delhi High Court. The court admitted the suit after hearing the arguments from Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, who appeared for the plaintiff. It also directed them to answer all material questions. The defendants were also asked to file responses to the interim applications.
Request for an injunction order
Shewale’s lawyer pleaded with the court to pass an injunction order which would bar Raut and others from making any further comments, which may allegedly amount to defamation. However, the court said it would wait for the responses from the parties and then pass an order.
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The matter will be heard next on April 17, 2023. The Delhi High Court also stated the shoulders of the election commission are broad enough to deal with such matters.
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Moreover, the court asked Google, Twitter, Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut to file the responses within 30 days on the suit.
Sanjay Raut had on February 19, 2023, made some remarks against the Maharashtra Chief Minister during a press conference and a case was filed by a Shiv Sena leader against Raut in Nashik in connection with the same. As per the complaint, Sanjay Raut, a Rajya Sabha MP of Shiv Sena (UBT), had alleged that a “deal of ₹ 2000 crore” had taken place to “purchase” the Shiv Sena party name and its ‘bow and arrow’ symbol.
The statement was made days after the Election Commission of India allotted the ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction and recognised it as the original Shiv Sena.
