Defamation case: LIP’s Bains appears in court after non-bailable warrants, gets bail

Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) president and Atam Nagar MLA Simarjeet Singh Bains on Tuesday appeared in a Patiala court after he was issued non-bailable warrants in a defamation case filed by Punjab local bodies minister Brahm Mohindra.

The court of judicial magistrate Nidhi Saini granted bail to the MLA and fixed March 6 as the next date of hearing.

Saini had issued summons to Bains on February 14 after recording Mohindra’s statement.

On August 1, 2018, Mohindra had filed a defamation suit against the LIP leader. In a press conference, Bains had levelled allegations of a scam against Mohindra in the purchase of medicines during his tenure as state health minister besides claiming he owned a pharmaceutical company.

In July last year, Bains had written to chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Congress president Rahul Gandhi demanding Mohindra’s removal from the state cabinet and a CBI probe into allegations that the then health minister was pressuring drug de-addiction centres to purchase a particular medicine at exorbitant rates. He had also alleged that certain tender terms and conditions were introduced to benefit some multinational drug firms.

Since filing of the case, Mohindra has deposed in the court a number of times. The criminal defamation case was filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

After getting bail on Tuesday, Bains said he would prove the charges he levelled against Mohindra since he has documentary proof of his favoring particular firms in the purchase of medicines.

“I didn’t appear in the court since he didn’t get any summons. After getting to know through the media that warrants were issued against me, I presented myself in the court. I will not be cowed even as Mohindra is using the government machinery to hound me,” he said.