Prashant Bhushan's plea to transfer defamation case against him by Amit Sibal dismissed

A Delhi court today dismissed a plea of advocate Prashant Bhushan seeking transfer of a defamation case, filed against him by former union minister Kapil Sibal's lawyer son Amit Sibal, to a magisterial court which was hearing it earlier.

The matter had later been shifted to a special designated court at the orders of the Delhi High Court.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal, whose court was designated exclusively to deal with criminal cases involving politicians, rejected Bhushan's application saying it did not have the jurisdiction to transfer the case.

"This court does not have the jurisdiction to transfer the case to any other court. The application is dismissed," the ACMM said.

Bhushan had moved the plea seeking transfer of the case back to the court which was hearing it, contending that no politician was left in this case as everyone had tendered their apologies to Amit Sibal.

"This special court was set up to deal with cases involving politicians. Since all the politicians have gone now, there is no such person left in the matter," Bhushan said.

Recently, BJP leader Shazia Ilmi had also tendered an apology to Amit Sibal by moving a joint application with the complainant seeking to settle the matter, which was accepted by the court. Both Bhushan and Ilmi were earlier members of the Aam Aadmi Party.

The court had on March 19 acquitted Chief Minister Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia after they had apologised to Amit Sibal for making "unfounded allegations".

The lower court had, on September 20, 2014, put Kejriwal, Sisodia, Ilmi and Bhushan on trial for the charge under section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.