Sanjay Raut gets 15-day jail term for defaming Kirit Somaiya’s wife

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and editor of the party’s mouthpiece Saamna, Sanjay Raut, was convicted of criminal defamation on Thursday. A metropolitan magistrate court in Mazgaon sentenced Raut to 15 days of simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹25,000 in the case filed by Medha Somaiya, the wife of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya.
In her plaint Somaiya had accused Raut of trying to malign her in an alleged ₹100-crore toilet construction fraud in the municipal area of Mira-Bhayander.
On Raut’s request, later in the day, the magistrate court suspended the sentence to enable him to challenge the order in appeal in the sessions court.
Addressing the media after Thursday’s verdict, Raut claimed he had merely amplified in public interest an issue that had already been raised in the Maharashtra Assembly by MLA Pratap Sarnaik, who is now with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. “Somaiya’s Yuva Pratishthan built some toilets in Mira-Bhayander. The then leader of opposition in the civic body alleged that there was corruption in the execution of the contract, subsequent to which MLA Pratap Sarnaik wrote a letter seeking a probe in the matter,” said Raut. “The issue was discussed in the state assembly, after which the government was asked to probe the case. I only raised the issue in the public interest. Is it a crime to speak about the misuse of public funds,” he said, referring to the matter that was raised when there was a Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in the state.
Medha Somaiya had approached the magistrate court in April 2022 after she came across the article in Saamna, wherein she was accused of building unauthorised toilets by cutting mangroves, without getting the requisite permissions from environmental authorities. The article further alleged that Somaiyas’ NGO, Yuva Pratishthan, had indulged in corruption.
In addition to the Saamna article, Raut had also spoken extensively to television channels repeating his allegations ad nauseum, she told the court, while also submitting clips of the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader’s sound bites to support her claim. Her lawyer said Raut’s allegations were widely telecast by leading news channels and were made only with the intention to tarnish his client’s image. Somaiya, her lawyer argued, was a respectable professional who worked as professor of organic chemistry and who was associated with prestigious institutions like the Tata Institute of Social Sciences before her retirement. She also has a doctorate in slum development, which helps her in her charitable work.
Though the final order is yet to become available, the magistrate court observed that Raut’s words had indeed harmed her reputation. “I am happy that I have got justice and the allegations against me and my family members are proven to be false. I fought to get justice and did it like any other woman would have done. I think the court has respected my position as a teacher and a social worker,” said Somaiya.
In addition to a criminal defamation, she has also filed a civil defamation suit against Raut in the same matter, which is pending before the Bombay high court.
Somaiya said she was constrained to file the criminal suit after her letter to Raut asking for an unconditional apology went unanswered. Somaiya has also sought directions from the court to make Raut deposit a sum of ₹100 crore in the chief minister’s relief fund or any other fund that the court deems fit, and to retract the article and publish an unqualified apology to Somaiya prominently displayed on the front page of Saamna.