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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, DEC 3: The Bombay High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition seeking a stay on the defamation case filed by leader of the Opposition Chhagan Bhujbal against Shiv Sena leaders Bal Thackeray and Subhash Desai, and Saamna executive editor Sanjay Raut.
Bhujbal had moved court against the Sena leaders, following the publishing of an article in soon after the Ramabai Nagar incident on July 11 in which a statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar was desecrated. In his application to the court, the Opposition leader submitted that the contents of an affidavit filed by one Rajendra Agarwal included ``derogatory remarks'' against him, and were published by Saamna without verification. Thackeray, Desai and Raut, in their plea, urged the court to set aside the process issued by the chief judicial magistrate, Nashik, on the grounds that it was ``against law, equity, good conscience and facts on record,'' and therefore deserved to be quashed. ``The learned magistrate erred in notconsidering the fact that the report published in Saamna was based on an affidavit filed by Gupta (Rajendra Agarwal) before the Commissioner of Police. Gupta had affirmed that he was told by Bhujbal to desecrate the statue of Ambedkar and it was published in larger public interest,'' the plea said. It also held that conveying the information could not amount to defamation of anybody ``though the same be inconvenient to that person''. The court however rejected the contention and dismissed the petition. Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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