Kailash Satyarthi deceiving society in name of social work: Court told

NEW DELHI: Trustees of a charitable trust, who have filed a suit in 1997 against Kailash Satyarthi for alleged misappropriation of funds, today told a Delhi court that the Nobel laureate was deceiving the society in the name of social work, an allegation that he has denied.

Satyarthi said the litigation and allegations were aimed at "tarnishing his image at the instigation of people who are having vested interests."

His counsel Pradeep Diwan claimed that his client was being dragged in the "frivolous" litigation which gained momentum only after he was conferred the award.

Additional District Judge (ADJ) Kamini Lau, however, was not convinced by this argument and said "work is more important. People who earn a name fall from it overnight also. So, let's not get into that."

Satyarthi in his application has sought a direction to the plaintiffs, trustees of the charitable trust, to deposit security for costs incurred or likely to be incurred by him and his wife to defend themselves in the matter.

The court, after hearing the arguments of both the parties, reserved the order on his interim application and fixed December 14 for pronouncement of its decision.

The plaintiffs, trustees of Mukti Pratishthan Trust, in their response to Satyarthi's application, have said "unlike defendants (Satyarthi and his wife Sumedha), neither they are recipients of money in the form of salaries or otherwise nor do not have any personal monetary or material interest in the suit."

They said they were being purposely burdened to somehow be deterred from pursuing the suit and back-track therefrom.

In his rejoinder to their response, Satyarthi has denied all the allegations.

The trustees in their suit against Satyarthi, who got the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, have accused him and his wife of embezzling huge sums from the trust through maintainance of false accounts.

Satyarthi and his wife were earlier trustees of the trust but had parted ways with it in 1994.