Kolkata: A designated MP/MLA court in West Bengal issued summons to Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday 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 special judge of MP/MLA court at Bidhannagar directed that Shah is “required to appear in person/by pleader” at 10 am on that day.The judge directed that Shah’s attendance either personally or through a lawyer is necessary to answer to a charge of defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.In a press note, Abhishek Banerjee’s lawyer Sanjay Basu said that Shah had made certain defamatory statements against the TMC MP on August 11, 2018, at a rally of the BJP at Mayo Road in Kolkata.Local media has reported that Shah had alleged Banerjee’s role in connection with various chit fund scams. “Amit Shah’s speech was aired all over the country. That is how Abhishek was defamed. We had lodged the case on August 28, 2018 under section 500 of the IPC,” Basu told Anandabazar Patrika.Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code deals with defamation.(With PTI inputs)