Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has stayed proceedings in criminal complaint against a social activist S K Bhalla filed against him by a journalist in Doda.
Reports reaching Kashmir News Service (KNS), Justice Mohan Lal of the high court has stayed proceedings in the case titled “Haq Nawaz Nehru vs S.K. Bhalla’ till next date of hearing before the Bench i.e. June 03.
They said that these directions were passed in a Criminal Transfer Application filed by Prof. S.K. Bhalla claiming to be a Public Spirited Person/Social Activist.
The Court also issued notice to the complainant, a Doda-based Journalist, Haq Nawaz Nehru for filing objections before the next date of hearing.
Haq Nawaz Nehru has filed criminal defamation proceedings against S.K. Bhalla who on July, 26, 2020 had allegedly written a defamatory post on his facebook handle leveling serious allegations against Doda-based Journalist Haq Nawaz Nehru.
Advocate Nikhil Narayan Sharma appearing vice Advocate Ankur Sharma for the petitioner S.K. Bhalla submitted that the petitioner fears danger to his life and has security risk at Doda as he has voiced against the land and liquor mafia and the said mafia can inflict damage to the petitioner and further due to the declining years of the petitioner it is inconvenient for the petitioner to attend the trial at Doda.
Earlier, Justice Javed Iqbal Wani of High Court of J&K and Ladakh at Jammu had dismissed S.K. Bhalla’s petition filed under Section 482 CrPC seeking quashment of the criminal defamation complaint filed by Haq Nawaz Nehru against S.K. Bhalla holding that the case of S.K. Bhalla does not fall in the exceptions to Section 499 IPC.
After the dismissal of the petition seeking quashment of the criminal defamation complaint, Prof. S.K. Bhalla has filed Criminal Transfer Application seeking transfer of the proceedings from Doda to Jammu on the ground of threat to his life.
Justice Mohan Lal after hearing Advocate Nikhil Narayan Sharma also stayed the proceedings before the trial court till next date i.e. June, 3, 2022. (KNS)
