Jairam Ramesh granted bail in defamation case filed by Vivek Doval

A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in connection with the criminal defamation case filed against him by Vivek Doval, son of National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.

Ramesh appeared before the Patiala House Court in connection with the case filed against him, the editor and a reporter of Caravan Magazine.

The Congress leader was granted bail on personal bond and surety of Rs 20,000 each. Paresh Nath, the editor of Caravan and reporter Koshal Shroff have already been granted bail by the court.

"The matter is sub-judice and I won't say anything on the matter other than the fact that I'm a private person and have not been involved in any are of public life. It was a direct attack on me and my family. I will keep coming till justice is served," said Vivek Doval.

"They have made so many allegations against me without any credible proof," he added.

On January 21, Vivek had filed a criminal defamation case against Ramesh and the two journalists, contending that they had caused "irreparable damage" to his reputation "through calculated insinuations and innuendos."

Vivek alleged that Ramesh and the two scribes committed the offence of defamation punishable under Section 500 of IPC (which provides for simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both) read with Section 120-B IPC (criminal conspiracy).

Vivek had filed the complaint against the magazine for the alleged defamatory article and Ramesh for using the content to defame him on wrong facts. The Caravan article claimed that Vivek was running a hedge fund whose promoters are of dubious antecedents.

The next date of hearing on the matter in the court is May 27.