Tytler in another case, to appear April 18

New Delhi, March 23 (IANS) A city court Monday asked former central minister Jagdish Tytler to make a personal appearance in a defamation case. The Congress candidate from the North-East Delhi seat is also involved in a case during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, in which the probe agency will file its report by March 28.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Ajay Pandey allowed Tytler an exemption from a personal appearance Monday as Tytler's lawyer said his client was busy preparing for the Lok Sabha polls, due in Delhi on May 7. But the magistrate directed that Tytler should appear in person on April 18.

The case against Tytler had been filed by senior advocate H.S. Phoolka in a court at Ludhiana in Punjab. Phoolka alleged Tytler had made a derogatory remark about him in a news programme, aired on a private news channel Sep 7, 2004. Phoolka was then providing legal aid to the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

The case was being heard in a Ludhiana court until recently, till the Supreme Court transferred it to Delhi.