New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on December 9 issued notice to tehelka news portal and its editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal on a petition by Samata Party leader Jaya Jaitley seeking restoration of her defamation case against them before a city court which was dismissed on grounds of non-appearance.

After preliminary hearing, a Bench comprising Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice H R Malhotra asked Tejpal to file his reply by January 14, the next date of hearing.

Jaitley's complaint was dismissed by a metropolitan magistrate for non-appearance as neither she nor her counsel had appeared in court on December 3.

Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation case against tehelka and Tejpal for allegedly linking her name to the "fictitious Armsgate scandal" in an article.

Seeking restoration of the complaint, Jaitley's counsel S S Gandhi and Abhishekh Dholakia submitted that dismissal of the complaint in default of non-appearance was a harsh order.

Metropolitan magistrate Gulshan Kumar on December 3 had dismissed the complaint on the ground of "non-prosecution" as neither Jaitley nor her lawyers appeared before him.

Jaitley, in her complaint, had submitted that the statements displayed on the Website were "totally false". She denied that she misused office or indulged in corruption or has "ever received supposed arms dealers and middle men or accepted any sum of money, including Rs 2 lakh in exchange as alleged by the portal".

PTI