[BREAKING] Father of Sameer Wankhede consents to Nawab Malik proposal to set aside single-judge order in defamation suit

Dhyandev Wankhede, father of NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede has told a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court that he has no objections to the plea by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) minister Nawab Malik to quash the single-judge order refusing to grant interim relief to Wankhede in his defamation suit against Malik. .Even though the single-judge order was in favour of Malik since it refused to grant interim relief to Dhyandev Wankhede, Malik had proposed quashing of the same since it had many adverse observations against him as well. Malik had filed an application in this regard and also suggested that after quashing the single-judge order, the interim application in the suit could be remanded back to the single-judge for re-hearing on the case.Since, Wankhede has now agreed to the same, the defamation suit will now be reheard by the single-judge on the aspect of interim relief. .In view of Wankhede's submissions, the Bench of Justice SJ Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav recorded in its order that the single-judge order has been consensually set aside. The Bench also granted Malik time till December 9 to file his reply to the interim application in Wankhede's defamation suit. Wankhede has to file the rejoinder by January 3, 2021. The matter has been directed to be decided within 12 weeks after that. Meanwhile, Malik has to refrain from making any statements till then as was undertaken by him earlier..By way of background, Dhyandev Wankhede had filed a defamation suit against Malik after the latter had shared Sameer Wankhede’s purported birth certificate on his Twitter handle, while allegedly imputing that Wankhede’s father was a Muslim and that his name was ‘Dawood’.In the suit, Dhyandev Wankhede claimed that the tirade against his son started only after Malik’s son-in-law Sameer Khan was arrested by the NCB in January this year for an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act).The suit sought directions to be issued to Malik to pay damages to the tune of ₹1.25 crore for allegedly making defamatory comments against his son and his family in press conferences and on his social media account.Through an interim application filed in the case, Wankhede had sought a temporary injunction restraining Malik from making any statements in the future about him and his family members..Single-judge Justice Madhav Jamdar on November 22, rejected that interim application prompting Wankhede to file appeal before the Division Bench.Malik had then filed an application in that appeal proposing that the single-judge order be consensually set aide and reheard..Senior Advocate Birendra Saraf with Advocates Divakar Rai, R.S.Rane, Nitin Rai, Bhavika Solanki, Saurabh Tamhankar appeared for Wankhede. Advocates Karl Tamboly, Shraddha Dube Patil, Komal Bhoir instructed by Jay and Co. appeared for Malik. [Read order]