Guwahati: A court here in Guwahati passed an “ad-interim prohibitory injunction” restraining Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi, Bhupesh Baghel and Jitendra Singh Alwar from making “defamatory statements” against CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, who has filed a Rs 500 crore defamation case against them, till they appear before the court on March 9.After hearing the petitioner’s counsel, civil judge (senior division) No 1 of Kamrup (Metro) district, Nayanjyoti Sarma, ordered the ‘ad-interim injunction’ on Wednesday, restraining Gogoi, Baghel and Singh from “making, publishing, circulating or disseminating any further defamatory statements or materials concerning the petitioner till their appearance in court”.Judge Sarma, in his order, said the court is of the opinion that “if an order of ad-interim injunction is not passed, it will defeat the justice and there is every possibility of multiplicity of proceedings”.The court fixed the date of appearance of the defendants before it on March 9.The judge added that from the materials on record, “it is evident that the petitioner is the CM of Assam having high status in the society and his reputation has been dented before the society and he has to suffer mentally due to the impugned defamatory publication by the defendants without any authentic documents or subsistence proof.”“Hence, after going through the documents submitted by the petitioner, along with the plaint, and in the light of necessary documents available before the court at present, this court finds that a prima facie case is established in favour of the petitioner,” the judge said.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference on Thursday, advocate general Devajit Saikia said the CM’s counsel argued that the details of all properties and assets belonging to him and his family have been filed in the affidavits of all the elections he has contested since 2001.Besides, he added, according to the rules of state govt, all ministers, including the CM, and senior govt officials have to declare their assets annually, and Sarma has been doing it regularly.Saikia added that the CM has also been a regular income tax assessee for over 30 years.“Contrary to Congress’s allegations, all his wealth, properties and assets are reflected in Income Tax filing, register of societies, Assam govt’s records and election affidavits,” he said.He added that Sarma was unanimously elected leader by his party MLAs in 2021, and thus the other allegations made by the Congress are also absolutely “false, imaginary and to mislead the people of the state.”
