Adityanath defamation case: Court asks Ajay Rai to record statement

Lucknow: A Lucknow court has fixed September 25 for recording the statement of Uttar Pradesh Congress president and former minister Ajay Rai in connection with his defamation complaint against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over alleged remarks linking him to a “fish feast” in Ayodhya.

Rai filed the complaint before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Alok Verma’s court on September 1, seeking the chief minister’s prosecution over the alleged defamatory remarks.

According to the complaint, Adityanath made the remarks at a public meeting in Rae Bareli on August 24, referring to Rai’s visit to Ayodhya’s Hanumangarhi and alleging that he subsequently attended a fish feast.

Rai has alleged that the remarks were false, objectionable and damaging to his reputation and were made without verifying the facts. He has also alleged that the remarks were widely circulated through news channels, newspapers and social media.

The complaint states that a Nishad community programme and a public meeting were organised in Ayodhya on August 23, where Rai was invited to address the gathering. A fish feast was organised after the programme as part of a community tradition, but Rai has denied eating fish or participating in the feast.

According to the complaint, photographs of Rai arriving at the programme and separate photographs of members of the Nishad community eating fish were circulated through the media and social media, allegedly creating an incorrect impression about the Congress leader’s conduct.

Rai has maintained that he is a vegetarian and challenged the chief minister to produce authenticated photographic or video evidence showing him eating fish.

The state Congress chief had earlier said he would quit politics if such evidence was produced.

The court has now asked Rai to appear and get his statement recorded on September 25.