Pune Mirror: Pune: Thursday, August 03, 2017.
RTI activist
claims Bala Bhegde made false and insulting statements about him on live TV,
over contention of hundreds of trees hacked on forest land.
A criminal
defamation case has been filed against a standing member of the Maharashtra
Legislative Assembly from Maval constituency Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member
Sanjay aka Bala Bhegde for making derogatory statements against a Right to
Information (RTI) activist and threatening him on a TV show in January 2016.
The
complainant, Maval-based Somatane Phata resident Vikas Taneja, wrote in his
statement that there is a forest road at a distance of around 300 metres from
his father’s house, which he often used for morning walks. On January 2 last
year, when Taneja was out for a stroll, he found more than 200 large trees had
been hurriedly axed the previous night. On January 29, he filed a complaint
against Bhegde at the forest department, alleging that the MLA had done this to
build a new road via the farmhouse of district guardian minister Girish Bapat,
connecting to his own home and that of his supporters.
Taneja
further stated that annoyed by this complaint, Bhegde called him and warned him
off, asking him to withdraw any such plaints. Taneja prepared a CD recording
and transcript of the conversation, asserting that the accused intentionally
insulted him.
Besides his
police complaint filed on February 11 at Talegaon Dabhade police station,
Taneja also wrote to the Prime Minister, Maharashtra Chief Minister and Pune
district collector April 3. He further clicked photographic evidence of the
lost trees and sought the intervention of print and electronic media.
Finally, this
matter was highlighted on a TV show on June 26, in which state forest minister
Sudhir Mungantiwar also participated, and assured that action could be taken
against any offenders. During this programme, Bhegde was connected through as
live video conference call. Taneja alleges that in the course of this
interaction, Bhegde made defamatory statements against him, saying that “a case
of illegal construction and cheating has been registered” against Taneja.
Bhegde asserted on TV that complaints have been filed against Taneja at
Talegaon Dabhade PS also for causing grievous hurt by use of weapons under the
Indian Penal Code (IPC), claiming that Taneja had come to him for help about
this later.
Taneja has
denied any such cases filed against him, claiming that he was only vilified
because he raised his voice against an illegal activity by a politically
well-connected person. His defamation plea states that many of his kith and kin
view the regional news channel and asked him about the cases filed against him.
He claims he has had to “face ridicule” and his “image was degraded in the eyes
of the public”.
Advocate
Sagar Kothari, who represents Taneja, told Mirror, “The court has taken
cognisance of our complaint. We have sought information under RTI and proved
Bhegde’s statements on TV false. We have prayed due process against him for
offenses under sections 500 (defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with
intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the IPC.”
The court has
taken cognisance of our complaint. We have sought information under RTI and
proved Bhegde’s statements on TV falses.