Sanjay Raut acquitted in defamation case filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya’s wife

The magistrate court’s sentence was suspended for a month, during which Raut filed an appeal against the order before the special court designated for trials against MPs and MLAs. The special court’s detailed order is yet to be made available.

Medha’s advocates, Vivekanand Gupta and Laxman Kanal, said they would appeal against the acquittal in the Bombay High Court.

Raut’s appeal said he was the executive editor, not the editor, of Saamana and was therefore not legally responsible for articles published in the paper. It further argued that the magistrate court failed to consider that there was no proof he had written the article or given instructions for its publication.

The appeal also said that when a public servant complains about corruption in public work, the press has a responsibility to publish it. It claimed a town planning officer had written a letter to the municipal corporation to initiate an inquiry against Medha’s trust. Medha was asked about this during her cross-examination, where she denied knowledge about it, the appeal added.