Court begins inquiry into Yadav's remark on Gujaratis

A metropolitan court here on Saturday began its inquiry and recorded the statements of three witnesses, over a criminal defamation complaint filed against Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav for his alleged remark, "Looking at the present condition of the country, only Gujaratis can be cheats (thag)."

The court instituted the inquiry under Section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Three witnesses turned up and gave statements to the court in support of the complaint, which was filed by one Haresh Mehta, a representative of an NGO called "All India Anti-Corruption and Crime Preventive Council".

He sought action against the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code for defaming Gujarati people in general.

The three witnesses who deposed during the court inquiry were Pankaj Patel from Gandhinagar, Jatin Patel from Mehsana and Rajendra Tank from Bhuj in Kutch district.

Tank said he was shocked to see Yadav's statement on the YouTube channel of a private news channel.

He said that Gujaratis are spread across many countries and their sentiments are hurt, and he is getting calls from people from all over in this regard.

He also said that Gujarati people are settled outside the state, and many are in business activities. The comment by Yadav can cause damage to their businesses.

Two other witnesses echoed these sentiments after saying that they saw Yadav's video.

The court was also told that after the broadcast of Yadav's statement, the Chhattisgarh Gujarati Samaj filed a complaint in this regard.

After the deposition of these three witnesses, Mehta filed an application requesting the court to issue witness summons to the editor of the private news channel and direct him to bring the original records before the court so that it can be verified whether the electronic evidence was tampered with and the necessary certificate can be obtained for admissibility of the evidence.