The notice asked the Congress party to publish similar size ad in the same papers for withdrawing the charges in a fortnight failing which the two threatened to file a Rs 10 crore defamation suit.
A notice has also been sent to MPCC and its state president Kantilal Bhuria stating that false statements/advertisement published in the media on November 13, 2013 caused an irreparable damage to reputation, trauma and agony to the CM and his wife.
The Congress had placed an advertisement in newspapers across the state that showed silhouettes of a man and a woman and a heading on top saying: “Mukhiya ke munh par tala, lalchhi parivar ne Madhya Pradesh ko loot dala.” (The chief has mouth shut while greedy family has looted Madhya Pradesh). It did not name the CM.
Besides the headline, objections have been raised on other points which reads, “Kyon zaroorat padi note ginne wali machine ki?” (What was the need for a currency counting machine?). The man’s silhouette resembled what a silhouette of Chouhan would look like.
The ‘defamatory publication’ was issued and published by the MPCC as per the declaration appearing on its right hand corner at the bottom. “Sonia Gandhi is of course in charge of and responsible towards the overall affairs of the Indian National Congress party across all states and union territories of India,” reads the notice issued by advocate Shashank Shekar.
He said publication, which are not only false and concocted, have also been meticulously leveled to harm the goodwill and reputation of his clients and to cause them and their family members maximum mental trauma and harassment.
“The title of the defamatory Publication is absolutely false, frivolous and baseless besides being defamatory. First of its kind in the country, it is under the tenure of Mr Chauhan as the chief minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh that the Madhya Pradesh Public Service Guarantee Act, 2010 has received a special award in the United Nations Public Service Award for the year 2012, for excellence in public service,” said notice.
He pointed out that the allegation of having a currency counting machine at the residence was leveled by Digvijaya Singh in 2012 and had failed to justify it. Also, leader of opposition is facing a trial for the same.
The story was first published on Times of India.
