Bombay High Court asks both parties to file affidavit in support of their claims
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – A Single-Bench of the Bombay High Court has asked Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik as well as the father of Narcotics Control Bureau officer Sameer Wankhede to file affidavit in support of their respective claims against each other.
Malik has said that Sameer is a Muslim by birth and not a Dalit as he claims. “You have to prove prima facie that what he (Malik) is saying is false. Your son is not an individual. He is a public official and any member of the public can examine him… Show me every tweet and how according to you it is false,” Justice Madhav Jamdar told Sameer’s father Dnyandev Wankhede on Wednesday, November 10, according to Live Law.
The senior Wankhede has filed a defamation law suit of ₹ 1.25 crore against the minister who has tweeted what he claimed was the birth certificate of Sameer Wankhede. His contention is that the NCB officer is a Muslim by birth and his real name is “Sameer Dawood Wankhede”. The minister has also said the officer forged his birth certificate to obtain the government job.
To Malik, the judge said: “I want an affidavit from you that the information is verified. It can be a one-page affidavit”. The matter will be heard next on November 12.
The judge also said that Sameer Wankhede is a public official and any member of the public has the right to examine him. It depends on his father, who has filed the law suit, to prove what the minister is saying is false.
Sameer has alleged that the minister holds a grudge against NCB after the arrest of his son-in-law in a drugs case and is now pursuing a personal vendetta. Malik, on the other hand, told NDTV earlier that the Narcotics Control Bureau is “hiding” behind the case of his son-in-law, portraying his criticism of the agency as a case of vendetta.
The matter will be heard next on November 12.
