Jay Shah fails to turn up, 'The Wire' case adjourned
A metropolitan court in Ahmedabad adjourned the hearing in the criminal defamation case that Jay Shah, BJP chief Amit Shah's son, had filed against The Wire. Jay failed to turn up for the hearing. The Wire's founder, Siddharth Varadarajan tweeted that Jay cited "social work" commitments as the reason for his no-show. How has the case progressed until now? Read on!
What had The Wire alleged?
The Wire alleged that after incurring losses in 2013 and 2014, Jay's enterprise earned a Rs. 18,728 profit on Rs. 50,000 revenue in 2014-15. Subsequently, in 2015-16, it registered a Rs. 80.5cr turnover, i.e., a 16 lakh percent growth. In October'16, it went bust. Moreover, for a windmill in Ratlam, MP, Jay's another firm received a Rs. 25cr loan from Kalupur Commercial Cooperative Bank.
Subsequently, Jay filed a Rs. 100cr defamation suit
Afterwards, Jay filed a Rs. 100cr criminal defamation suit under section 500 of the IPC. He accused 'The Wire' of insinuating that he was involved in corruption through an article that was "scandalous, misleading, derogatory, libelous and had many defamatory statements." The suit was filed against the article's author Rohini Singh and The Wire's founders Siddharth Varadarajan, Siddharth Bhatia and MK Venu, among others.
Now, at the first hearing, Jay fails to show up
In October, the court issued an injunction against 'The Wire', restraining them from publishing any material related to Jay; later, Gujarat HC upheld this gag order. Now, at the criminal defamation case's first hearing, Jay's lawyer sought his exemption from appearing, citing "social work" as the reason. The defendants belonging to 'The Wire' were present. The date has now been pushed to December 16.
How did 'The Wire' react?
The Wire's founders slammed Jay for not turning up. MK Venu said "Jay Shah did not show up on day 1 of hearing. His lawyer said he couldn't come because of his social work commitments!" Varadarajan tweeted "First matter I've seen where the complainant is scared to show his face, while the "accused" are happy to smile for the cameras."
