Tripura minister files defamation suit against Tipra Motha MLA

Tripura Forest Minister Animesh Debbarma has filed a defamation suit against Tipra Motha Party MLA Ranjit Debbarma for allegedly making “false and derogatory” remarks against him, a senior lawyer said on Tuesday.

The petition was moved before the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court, West Tripura, the minister’s counsel said. Both the minister and the legislator belong to the Tipra Motha Party.

In the petition, the forest minister claimed that Ranjit Debbarma, during the campaigns for the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) elections, had made “derogatory remarks” against him.

The party MLA alleged that Animesh Debbarma had purchased “two flats and a plot” and “talks were going on to buy a flat in Delhi”, the lawyer said.

“These claims are false,” Animesh Debbarma’s counsel Sankar Lodh said.

“The Tipra Motha Party’s Ramchandraghat MLA (Ranjit Debbarma) also accused the minister of staying in forest bungalows to attend parties with a few women. This allegation is baseless,” he said.

The defamation petition will be taken up for hearing in the CJM court on April 30, Lodh said.

When contacted, Ranjit Debbarma claimed that he did not name any minister in his speeches during the election campaigns on March 29 and April 9, as mentioned in the petition.

“I have not mentioned any minister’s name in my speeches. I will submit a statement clarifying my stand when the defamation notice is served to me,” he said.