A Chandigarh court has summoned Sangrur district Congress president Rajinder Singh Raja, also known as Raja Bir Kalan, to stand trial on a criminal defamation complaint filed by Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) state president and senior Cabinet Minister Aman Arora.Judicial Magistrate Ist Class Navneet Kaur passed the summoning order, fixing September 7 as the date for appearance, subject to the complainant filing copies of the complaint within three days.The complaint, lodged in November 2019, relates to a press conference held by Raja in Sangrur on September 20, 2018, a day after polling for a Block Samiti seat in the area. According to the complaint, Raja told reporters that Arora was responsible for the death of his (Raja’s) father and alleged the death was a murder rather than a suicide. The remarks were carried in a Punjabi-language daily’s edition dated September 21, 2018.Arora’s complaint states the dispute stemmed from that year’s Block Samiti election in Jharon, where a rival Congress-backed candidate allegedly opened fire on an AAP candidate with a physical disability. The court order notes Raja is separately named in a police case registered in September 2018 over the same incident, invoking sections related to attempt to murder and the Arms Act.In his complaint, Arora, who represents Jattvibeam in the Punjab Assembly, through his senior counsels AS Sukhija and Jarnail Singh, said the press conference remarks damaged his standing and caused distress to his family. Three witnesses, including a correspondent then posted with the Punjabi-language paper’s Sangrur office, deposed before the court that they had read or verified the report.Passing the order, the magistrate cited a Supreme Court ruling on a magistrate’s duty to weigh evidence before summoning an accused in a criminal complaint, and held that a prima facie case of defamation was made out under the relevant provision of the penal code.Case at a glanceCase: Complaint filed November 12, 2019Complainant: Aman Arora, Punjab AAP president, senior Cabinet MinisterAccused: Rajinder Singh Raja, alias Raja Bir Kalan, district Congress president, SangrurSections invoked: 499/500 IPC (criminal defamation)Order: Accused summoned for trial under Section 500 IPCNext hearing: September 7