Lawyer Jai Dehadrai withdraws defamation case against Mahua Moitra in Delhi HC

Lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai on Thursday withdrew his defamation suit filed against Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mahua Moitra before the Delhi high court.
“Learned counsel for the plaintiff upon instructions seeks permission to withdraw the suit, the suit is dismissed as withdrawn,” a bench of justice Prateek Jalan said in the order.
The withdrawal of suit against Mahua comes a day after Dehadrai assured before a coordinate bench that he will not make any allegations against Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Pinaki Misra’s being involved in hatching a criminal conspiracy against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, till August 12.
In his suit, Dehadrai sought for restraining Moitra from making allegedly defamatory statements against him on social media platforms and using allegedly derogatory terms for him asserting that the TMC leader had embarked a ceaseless campaign of slander and abuse, utilising various social media platforms and mainstream media outlets after he had filed a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) complaint against her on October 14.
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To be sure, the high court while expressing displeasure regarding the lawyer making statements in media pursuant to issuance of summons in his suit had remarked on April 8 that Moitra had the right to defend herself in public domain with regards to the cash for query allegations which were being levelled against her by her estranged friend and lawyer Dehadrai as long as her statements are not objectively false.
During the hearing on Thursday, Dehadrai represented through advocate Raghav Awasthi submitted that his client was ready to withdraw the suit subject to the TMC leader making a statement that she would not make “palpably false” statements against him.
Considering Awasthi’s proposal, Justice Jalan remarked that Dehadrai’s suggestion was positive and thus recommended the counsels to arrive at an agreed wording of the order which he could pass, adding that issues between the parties was getting escalated and they should figure out a better way to resolve the same.
“If it is possible to take this dispute out of the public domain and play it before the statutory authorities or privately then that… The offer, if I understand correctly, is to settle the suit. See, if it is possible for you to consider. If it is possible for you to consider,” Justice Jalan said to advocate Samudra Sarangi who represented the TMC leader.
Sarangi told the court that he could, though take instructions from his client and come back with a statement, there cannot be any settlement between Mahua and Jai.
“I’m not even saying that. I am only saying it would be of assistance to me in fashioning that agreed order of counsel to counsel. You can both come to some agreed working of what the order should be,” Justice Jalan said to Sarangi.
However, Awasthi at this juncture said that he would like to withdraw the suit on his client’s behalf.
“I would then like to withdraw unconditionally as a peace offering,” Awasthi said.
Moitra’s troubles started in October 2023, when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla based on a complaint by Dehadrai, who alleged that Moitra accepted money and favours to ask questions in Parliament.
Moitra is accused of giving direct access of her official MP ID to businessman Darshan Hiranandani to post questions on the Lok Sabha portal on her behalf and receiving expensive gifts from the businessman who also allegedly underwrote her bungalow renovations and paid for her foreign trips.
While Hiranandani has corroborated the charges, Moitra has denied the allegations that she received gifts, and has asked other parliamentarians if they never shared their passwords.
She was expelled from the lower house on December 8 based on a recommendation by the ethics committee. Months after her expulsion, TMC renominated Mahua from the Krishnanagar Lok Sabha constituency.
In March this year, the Lokpal had ordered CBI to investigate into the allegations against Moitra in cash-for-query charges saying there is “sufficient prima facie evidence (against the former member of parliament) on record that deserves deeper scrutiny.”