Union Home Minister Amit Shah was summoned by a designated MP/MLA court in West Bengal on Monday (February 22) in connection with a defamation case filed by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The special judge of the court directed the Home Minister to appear either personally or with a lawyer on that very day at 10am. He reiterated that Shah's attendance is necessary to answer to a charge of defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to the complaint, Abhishek Banerjee, who is the nephew of Mamata Banerjee, claimed that Shah had made certain defamatory statements against him on August 11, 2018 during a BJP rally in Kolkata.