NEW DELHI, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- A court in Delhi Tuesday dismissed a complaint against Indian Textiles Minister Smriti Irani that she allegedly faked her college degree, observing it was filed to "needlessly harass her."
"Complainant may not have filed it if she was not a central minister. Original evidence has been lost due to passage of years, secondary evidence won't be enough for court," Metropolitan Magistrate Harvinder Singh said, noting "a great delay of 11 years" in filing the complaint.
The court's dismissal of the fake degree case came as a big relief for the 40-year-old politician, who was removed from the high-profile Human Resources Development Ministry in a cabinet reshuffle a few months ago and moved to the Textile Ministry.
Ahmer Khan alleged that Irani has made contradictory claims about her college degree in documents filed in different years with the Election Commission.
The textiles minister has not yet commented on the fake degree row.
