Sessions court grants bail to Sanjay Raut as he challenges conviction in defamation case

Mumbai, Oct 25 (PTI) A sessions court here on Friday granted bail to Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut as he challenged his conviction in a defamation case filed by BJP leader Kirit Somaiya's wife Medha Somaiya.
Raut has filed a revision application in the sessions court against his conviction and the 15-day jail sentence awarded by a magistrate's court.
The Rajya Sabha member appeared before the court on Friday and sought bail. The court granted him bail in the sum of Rs 50,000.
Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Aarti Kulkarni on September 26 held Raut guilty of defamation under Indian Penal Code section 500. Besides sentencing him to 15 days in jail, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on him.
The court, however, suspended the sentence for 30 days to enable him file an appeal.
Raut, in his revision application before the sessions court, said the magistrate's order was "bad in law and improper on facts".
Medha Somaiya had claimed that Raut made baseless and defamatory allegations in the media against her and her husband, accusing them of being involved in a Rs 100 crore scam related to the construction of public toilets in Mira Bhayander Municipal Corporation area.
"As Raut appeared in person, we did not oppose his bail application, following which the court granted it," said advocate Laxman Kanal, Somaiya's lawyer.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)