Spl MP/MLA court defers Lalu's production in a defamation case

A special court here on Monday deferred production of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, who is lodged in a Ranchi jail, to the third week of January next in connection with a defamation case.

Special MP/MLA court judge Rajiv Nayan posted the matter for hearing on January 20, 2020 in the case after Prasad's appearance through video-conferencing could not take place during the day due to technical problem.

The court had on November 18 last issued the production warrant against RJD supremo in the case filed by Uday Kant Mishra, a member of Bihar State Disaster Management Authority, for making objectionable comments against him.

The court had asked the authorities of Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi to produce Prasad before it on December 2, 2019.

The Ranchi jail Superintendent had written a letter to the special court judge urging him to allow Prasad's production via video conferencing.

The complainant's lawyer V S Dubey said the hearing via video conferencing could not take place because of technical glitches.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief is in the high security jail in Jharkhand's capital city following his conviction in several fodder scam cases.

Notably, Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav had mentioned petitioner Uday Kant Mishra's name in reference to the Srijan scam publicly during a rally at Bhagalpur in 2017, after the Grand Alliance government had collapsed in Bihar that year.

The multi-crore Srijan scam is related to fraudulent transfer of government money into the account of a Bhagalpur- based NGO and the CBI is investigating it.

Srijan is a registered society for women in small income-generating activities.

The father-son duo had questioned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visiting Mishra's house whenever he came to Bhagalpur even though he had the facility to stay at the circuit house, Mishra's lawyer had said.

Mishra had first sent legal notices to Prasad and Yadav demanding unconditional apology for their objectionable comments, Dubey said.

Later, he proceeded against the RJD president and filed a defamation suit against him.