Saturday November 29, 2008

Phoolka to file perjury case against Tytler for 'false' statement in court

Amrita Chaudhry Posted: Nov 29, 2008 at 2317 hrs IST
Ludhiana: Supreme Court lawyer Harvinder Singh Phoolka today announced that he will file a case of "perjury" against senior Congress leader and former Cabinet minister Jagdish Tytler. Phoolka was in town today to attend a hearing of the defamation case that he is fighting against the Congress leader. After hearing both sides, Duty Magistrate Yukti Goyal adjourned the case for December 17.
The fireband lawyer claimed that "Tytler, against whom warrants were issued by a Ludhiana court in the defamation case, got a breather in the shape of an interim stay till
December 12 and that, too, by filing a false affidavit".
Phoolka, one of the leading lawyers providing legal aid and assistance to the families affected during the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage in the national capital, had filed a defamation suit, accusing Tytler, then a Cabinet minister in Congress government, of making defamatory remarks on a TV programme.
It was in September this year that after Tytler failed to appear in court that a bailable arrest warrant was issued against him by the court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class) K.K. Bansal.
Tytler, meanwhile, filed a petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court for transfer of the criminal complaint to neighbouring Haryana, citing security reasons, which was dismissed. He subsequently filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court on the appeal, which came up for hearing on November 21. The SC granted an interim stay of the execution of the warrant till the next date of hearing, December 12.
Phoolka alleged that Tytler, in his SLP before the Supreme Court, "had lied blatantly". He added, "Tytler through his lawyers had submitted that he fears for his life if the case is heard in Punjab, claiming that during the last hearing his lawyers could not make way into the court due to a large protest by Sikh activists. However, his lawyers were very much present inside court and also all the time to talk to the media."
Phoolka added, "The so-called protest that Tytler is referring to was a handful of people who were there for the sake of publicity. There was no problem at all in entering the court room and there was no such rally of Sikhs that could put Tytler's life to risk. Nevertheless, I want the case to move forward and I am ready to fight this case anywhere in India. I will let Tytler choose the place and I assure him I will be there."