Kolkata, Feb 20 (IANS): A court in West Bengal on Friday issued summons to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to appear either personally or through a lawyer before it on February 22 in connection with a defamation case lodged against him by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee.

The designated MP/MLA court at Bidhannagar asked Shah to appear in person or through a lawyer at 10 a.m. next Monday.

The judge ordered that Shah's presence either personally or through a lawyer is required to respond to a charge of defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) (Punishment for defamation).

In a release, Sanjay Basu, lawyer of Banerjee, nephew of Chief Minister and ruling Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, claimed that Shah had passed certain defamatory comments against the Lok Sabha member at a BJP rally in Kolkata on August 11, 2018.

Reacting to the development, Bengal BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharjee said that the matter would be looked into by the lawyer of Amit Shah.

"However, we are both in the ground and in the court. Legal action would be deal with legally. As the TMC leaders are unable to deal the issues raised by the BJP, they are trying to take shelter of the court."