india

Updated: Jun 05, 2019 08:37 IST

A local court in Dhanbad on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant against union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar in connection with a case in which he is accused of allegedly using abusive language against Congress president Rahul Gandhi in 2016.

Taking cognisance under section 504 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the court of first class judicial magistrate RK Singh issued the warrant on Tuesday.

“The court, during its last hearing on June 1, had directed the minister to make an appearance. As he failed to appear today, the court issued an arrest warrant. The court has fixed July 5, 2019, as the next date of hearing in the case,” said advocate Narendra Kumar Trivedi, who appeared behalf of the union minister.

The case was filed in January 2016 by Congress worker M K Azad in Dhanbad, alleging that Tomar, while attending a party programme at Dhanbad town hall, had termed Rahul Gandhi as “poonch ke baal” (hair strands of a tail) in comparison with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The subordinate court , after hearing the case, had rejected the matter. However, Azad had appealed to the court of Dhanbad district and sessions judge for revision of the lower court’s order. “The district and sessions judge, in an order in January 2018, had directed the court concerned to take cognizance in this case against the accused,” said Azad.

Tomar’s lawyers had moved the Jharkhand high court and had obtained a stay on execution of the cognizance.

“However, the court of the judicial magistrate issued summons on June 1, as the stay order in this case was automatically vacated, as per the standing order of the Supreme Court, which states that if no action in any case of a stay order is taken within six months of the original order, the stay would be vacated automatically,” said Trivedi.