Supreme Court
Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Rohini Sindhuri had filed a criminal defamation case in the Supreme Court against Indian Police Service (IPS) officer D Roopa Moudgil. After this, the case was recently heard in court again. The court had asked both officials to reach an agreement in this matter, but no agreement could be reached and IPS demanded to withdraw the petition, which the court accepted and approved to withdraw the petition.
A bench comprising Justice Abhay S Oka, Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice Augustine George Masih heard the case and allowed it to be withdrawn. The court allowed the case to be withdrawn after being informed that the parties were unable to reach an agreement to resolve the case and that the case would be prosecuted.
What did the court say?
During the hearing, the Supreme Court gave the parties time to decide whether they could resolve the matter. Justice Oka said the notice was issued because there was a dispute between an IPS officer and an IAS officer and we thought the two should reach an agreement to resolve it. The court said we requested mediation because senior bureaucrats spend more time in lawyers’ offices than at work.
Senior advocate Aditya Sondhi appeared before the court on behalf of IPS Rupa Moudgil and senior advocate Siddharth Luthra appeared on behalf of IAS Sindhuri. Advocate Luthra argued regarding the settlement that he rejects the idea of ​​settlement because the reputation of IAS Sindhuri has suffered enormous damage. IAS Sindhuri was present in the court. She informed the court that she was not interested in a settlement and wanted the case decided on the merits.
What is the dispute between the two women officers?
On February 18 last year, IAS Sindhuri filed a defamation case against IPS Moudgil. Sindhuri learned that IPS Moudgil had allegedly made several allegations against her in a Facebook post and had also shared her personal photo with other IAS officers. This led to a public dispute between the two, following which the Karnataka government transferred both officers.
IAS sent legal notice
After this, Sindhuri sent a legal notice to Moudgil and demanded an unconditional apology and compensation of Rs 1 million for the loss of her reputation and mental agony. On March 24, a Bengaluru court ordered the initiation of a criminal defamation case against Moudgil, after which it asked the Karnataka High Court to quash it. On August 21, the High Court rejected his petition, after which the present appeal was filed.
The court gave time to reach an agreement
During the hearing, the court asked what was the intention behind making allegations against IAS in the IPS social media post. In this regard, the IPS lawyer said, Moudgil was giving information about the misdeeds of IAS Sindhuri. However, Justice Amanullah said in this regard, suppose your client (Maudgil) had such a complaint against Sindhuri, then you can file a complaint with the department.
Furthermore, the judge highlighted whether these two could sit face to face and talk about this matter. However, despite being given time, Sondhi told the court that he would withdraw the petition as an agreement could not be reached between the two parties. Due to this, the court allowed IPS Moudgil to withdraw his petition.
