Ravinder Raina, President, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Jammu and Kashmir on Monday served a legal defamation notice to former MLC Surinder Choudhary for levelling baseless allegations against him with the sole aim to defame his (Raina’s) reputation within the party and the masses.
Choudhary’s remarks coincided with his joining National Conference after quitting BJP. He had over year-long association with the national party. Choudhary had earlier quit Peoples Democratic Party before joining BJP.
Ravinder Raina, in his legal notice, sought an unconditional apology from Choudhary within a week for his (Choudhary’s) attempts to damage his (Raina’s) reputation among the masses and the party ranks, warning of a defamation suit worth Rs five crore against the politician after the expiry of the deadline.
In the legal notice, Navyug Sethi, J&K High Court lawyer, representing Ravinder Raina said the intentional defamation of his client was a designed move coinciding with the joining of Choudhary in National Conference and his client has suffered serious damage to his name, reputation and goodwill besides suffering from mental trauma.
“You may choose any political party that suits your ambition, yet the choice of words in the tweet on July 11 are purely inappropriate, rather defamatory to my clients and the BJP, despite you knowing well that my client was not involved in any of the alleged acts,” the legal notice read.
Sethi said it was clear that in order to damage his client reputation and years of goodwill as an honest upright politician, the allegations have tarnished his reputation amongst the general public as also in his party circles and relatives.
He said his client is well within his legal rights to invoke remedies both under civil and criminal law against Choudhary.
