UP court issues summons to Sonia over Durga poster

MUZAFFARPUR: In yet another case of frivolous litigation, a fast track court in Muzaffarpur has summoned Congress president Sonia Gandhi on June 26 after a lawyer complained that she was depicted as a goddess in a poster in Moradabad Congress office in UP.
The court has also asked UP Congress president Rita Bahuguna and Moradabad district president Ajay Tarkeshwar Soni to appear on June 26.However, fast track court judge Vijay Kumar Mandal allowed Sonia and others to appear either in person or through their lawyers.
Lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha had filed a petition in the court of the chief judicial magistrate, Muzaffarpur, last year claiming his religious sentiments had been hurt after he saw a picture of Sonia depicted as Durga in the Moradabad Congress office in a newspaper.
Later, the CJM transferred the case to a judicial magistrate, S K Pandey. Pandey, however, dismissed the case on December 1 last year saying the court found no criminal offence on the part of the accused.
Ojha then filed a revision petition in the court of the district and sessions judge on December 11. The case was admitted for hearing on January 24 earlier this year. Later, the case was transferred to the fast track court.