A court on Monday granted bail to Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti in a defamation case filed against her by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh. Judicial Magistrate Ajay Singh Thakur granted her bail on a security of Rs 10,000 in the 13-year-old case.

Bharti, wearing saffron robes, first appeared in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Bhubhaskar Yadav, but as he was on leave, she approached Magistrate Thakur for bail. Her lawyer Harish Mehta said the minister could not appear on the last date, 29 September, as she had to chair an urgent meeting regarding the Cauvery water-sharing dispute between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.