Ex parte proceedings against Arundhati Roy

CHANDIGARH: A lower court of Chandigarh on Monday initiated ex parte proceedings against author and activist Arundhati Roy for not appearing before court despite serving of summons, in a case filed against her on charges of sedition.
On the other hand, senior advocate KC Mittal appeared on behalf of Congress general Secretary Rahul Gandhi. The case pertains to a private complaint filed by a local human rights activist, Arvind Thakur against the two for making "inflammatory" speeches.
The court of civil judge Ranjeev Kumar on Monday initiated ex parte proceedings against Arundhati Roy.
Activist and lawyer Arvind Thakur said that he had filed a petition against Rahul Gandhi and Arundhati Roy in the district court. The judge has proceeded ex parte against Arundhati Roy since she or anybody else on her behalf did not appear in court despite serving of summons to her, he added.
Giving details of the case, Thakur added that Rahul Gandhi had compared RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) with SIMI (Student Islamic Movement of India), a banned organization, during election campaigning in Bihar.
This was a tactic to win a vote bank and was unconstitutional as it could even lead to riots. Similarly Arundhati Roy also had given speeches on a number of occasions which were against the Indian government, Thakur alleged. The case will now come up for hearing on June 26.