'Direct Attack On Character': Tejinder Bagga Opposes In Delhi High Court Subramanian Swamy's Challenge To Summons In Defamation Case

BJP leader Tejinder Pal Singh Bagga has told the Delhi High Court that Subramanian Swamy's tweet against him claiming that he has been jailed many times, has directly attacked his character and integrity as well as lowered his reputation in the society. This is so as allegation of criminal antecedents is damaging for a person holding position in a political party, Bagga said in his response filed to Swamy's petition seeking quashing of a 2022 summons issued by the trial court in a defamation case filed against Swamy by Bagga. Swamy filed the plea challenging the summons and has also sought quashing of the proceedings.According to Bagga, on September 28 last year, Swamy had made the following tweet on his Twitter handle:"Delhi journalists inform me that before joining BJP, Tajinder Bagga had been jailed many times for petty crimes by the New Delhi Mandir Marg Police Station. True? If so Nadda should know".When the matter was taken up on Friday, Justice Ravinder Dudeja granted time to Swamy's counsel to file his rejoinder to Bagga's reply after noting that his counsel stated that the reply was received last night. "Rejoinder be filed with advance copy to opposite side," the court said and extended the operation of interim order. The matter is listed on April 6, 2026. In April 2022, a coordinate bench had stayed the trial court proceedings as well as the summoning order.It was therefore alleged that said tweet was read by thousands of Swamy's followers which indicated the outreach of said tweet. It was submitted that contents of said tweet were absolutely false and incorrect.Bagga has said in his response that his past conduct has no bearing on the correctness of criminal complaint initiated by the Respondent (Bagga) against the Petitioner. It states that if past conduct is the basis, then the Petitioner has suffered initiation and continuation of civil & criminal defamation cases against him.The reply states that Bagga was never arrested or jailed by Mandir Marg police station, which was the specific allegation made in the tweet. It is submitted that alleged statement is false and thus not covered by exceptions under section 499 IPC. It further states that Swamy has "history of making controversial statements on Twitter" demonstrating reckless disregard for the truth and he cannot be allowed to abuse his freedom of speech by making false statements.It states that the petitioner's claim that the tweet was based on "information received from Delhi journalists" is false.The response also states that the petitioner's argument that after the tweet, Bagga's followers on Twitter, now X, increased and he was also appointed as State in charge of Uttarakhand are irrelevant to the matter as defamation is harm to reputation, which is not measured by political appointments. About Trial Court OrderWhile issuing the summons, the Trial Court was of the view that there were sufficient grounds for proceedings against Swamy. Accordingly, the Court had ordered thus:"In view of allegations made in complaint, testimonies of CW1 to CW4 and material brought on record by them this court is prima facie satisfied that there are sufficient grounds for summoning of respondent as accused qua offence punishable u/s 500 IPC."Bagga also claimed that after publication of said tweet, he was summoned by his Party senior, Parveen Shankar Kapoor (Head, Media Relations, Delhi BJP) and was asked to explain the truth and veracity of the tweet after which he refuted the contents of the tweet.It was submitted on behalf of Bagga that on the same day, he had received a call from Shashi Yadav, Vice President of Delhi BJP, who also made enquiry about the truth of the tweet and that Bagga told him that the tweet was absolutely false.While it was submitted that Bagga had sent a legal notice to Swamy dated October 1, 2021, it was alleged that alleged that after receipt of said legal notice, Swamy again made a tweet on October 2, 2021.The Court noted that in the present case, Swamy had made a tweet dated 28.09.2021 which was conveyed to public through social media and that the statement was made in the tweet clearly showed that it was alleged that before joining BJP, Bagga was jailed many times for petty crimes and that even the source of information was also mentioned in the tweet.However, the Court said that as per the testimony of Bagga made on oath, the allegations were stated to be false and were allegedly to harm his reputation.“Even CW4 (SI Sandeep Kumar, PS Mandir Marg) has also corroborated the version of complainant and in this respect he filed the report Ex.CW4/1. This clearly shows that without verifying the veracity of the statement, respondent made the same and in view of this court, said statement is sufficient to raise the reasonable doubt about the antecedents and character of complainant. CW2 and CW3 made statement before court that tweet dated 28.09.2021 came in their knowledge and they sought explanation or made inquiry regarding the same ...

'Direct Attack On Character': Tejinder Bagga Opposes In Delhi High Court Subramanian Swamy's Challenge To Summons In Defamation Case

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