A Delhi court has sought response from Congress leader Jagdish Tytler on a plea by a lawyer fighting for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims that the former Union minister should be prosecuted for criminal intimidation for allegedly threatening to "liquidate" him on a TV show.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Amit Bansal issued notice to Tytler to submit his reply on July 12 to the plea of senior counsel H S Phoolka.
The court was hearing a defamation case filed by Phoolka who had alleged that Tytler had made derogatory remark against him in a TV programme aired on a news channel on September 7, 2004.
"The allegations in the complaint as well as statements of the witnesses at the pre-summoning stage discloses the offence committed by the accused (Tytler) under section 506 Part II (criminal intimidation) of the IPC, as well, accordingly the present case (of defamation) should be tried in accordance of the procedure for trial of the warrant cases," Phoolka, in his application filed through advocate Jasmeet Singh, said.
Section 506 (II) of the IPC attracts a punishment of up to seven years in jail.
Phoolka, in his application, said that Tytler, during the television show, had openly threatened to "liquidate" him.
"The seriousness and the gravity of the offence can be made out from the fact that accused was a Union minister at the time when he extended these threats to the complainant
(Phoolka) openly on a national TV Channel.
"Phoolka who was discharging his duties as a lawyer faithfully and honestly is being threatened by a person of a level of the Union Minister openly in public on TV Channel itself attracts Section 506 Part II of the IPC," he said.
The court, which had earlier given exemption to Tytler from personal appearance till his plea for permanent exemption is decided, has now fixed the plea for arguments on July 12, the next date of hearing.
Phoolka had said the "false and derogatory" allegations levelled by Tytler against him has harmed his reputation in society.
