Ex-MLA Parulekar gets 1-year jail term in defamation case

BHOPAL: A local court on Tuesday sentenced former Congress MLA from Mahidpur assembly constituency, with one year imprisonment, in a defamation case filed against her by former principal secretary of Madhya Pradesh Assembly Bhagwandas Israni.
She was however, immediately granted bail.
Court of judicial magistrate first class Sandhya Manoj Srivastava found Parulekar guilty of criminal defamation under Section 500 of IPC and awarded her a sentence of a year and a fine of Rs 2,000.
Sources said that Parulekar as the MLA from Mahidpur (Ujjain) had held a press conference in the state assembly building in November 2009, where she had released to media persons a bunch of documents. In that 13-page document, she levelled 39 allegations on the then, principal secretary Israni.
Subsequently, Israni first sent her a legal notice seeking apology for making the allegations but when she refused, he moved court in 2010.
Court after the trial sentenced Parulekar on Tuesday. Even during the course of the trial, Parulekar was asked to apologise but she refused, said sources.