RJD’s National Vice President Sentenced One Year Jail in Defamation case Filed by Bihar Minister

Patna: A Patna court on Tuesday sentenced RJD national vice president and former minister Shivanand Tiwary to one year in jail in a criminal defamation suit filed by Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Jha five years ago.

The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate of Patna, Sarika Bahaliya also imposed a fine of ₹ 10,000 on Tiwari.

But the court granted provisional bail to Shivanand Tiwary giving him 30 days to appeal against the order.

Jha, who is at present the minister for Water Resources and Information and Public Relations in the Nitish Kumar government, had filed this defamation case in 2018 when he was a national general secretary of the JD(U).

Jha had moved the court against Tiwary, taking exception to comments the latter had made about his close relationship with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U)’s supreme leader.

Tiwary, a veteran socialist leader has been a member of the RJD and JD(U) at different points in time.