Daijiworld Media Network – Dharwad (SP)
Dharwad, May 15: MP and state BJP president, Prahlad Joshi, has filed a criminal defamation suit against S R Hiremath, head of Samaj Parivartana Samudaya. The suit was filed in the court of the principal JMFC court here.
'I have been in public life since several years. S R Hiremath has been mentally torturing me by making baseless allegations. I request you to provide me justice,' Joshi said in his petition in which he has invoked sections 499, 500, 501, and 502 of Criminal Procedure Code. In the private complaint, he has based his prayers on press statements issued by Hiremath, besides naming BJP leaders, Vijayananda Shetty and Mohan Ramadurga, as witnesses.
Joshi said that Hiremath, in various press conferences, had accused him of trying to annexe the public ground by hatching conspiracies. 'Through these efforts, he has been trying for my character assassination. I have always maintained clean image in public life, and Hiremath is making these allegations backed by malicious intentions. As there is no substance in what Hiremath has been claiming, I pray you to provide me justice,' he said in the plaint.
Speaking to reporters later, advocate Arun Joshi said that the JMFC court has admitted the suit and fixed May 31 for hearing.