New Delhi: A court here on Saturday acquitted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav in a defamation case filed by an advocate in 2013.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand said the complainant, advocate Surender Kumar Sharma (now deceased), failed to prove that the accused have committed the alleged offence despite several efforts.
In the order, the judge also said the concept of "Reputation was known in the society perhaps since the time the civilization itself established."
She quoted a text from Bhagwat Geeta "People also will speak of your unending infamy. And to an honoured person infamy is worse than death" and said the text "dates back to 2nd century CE (common era) highlighting the importance of a person's reputation."
"Even today, in modern India, governed by its Constitution, Right to reputation has been embedded as one of the fundamental rights covered under the larger concept of Right to Life. Hence, undoubtedly, since time immemorial, Indian society identifies reputation as a person's most prized possession and it holds even more importance for persons who are in the profession of public dealing; viz, advocates and politicians alike," the judge said. In 81-page order, the judge noted that even though complainant alleged that the accused persons defamed him by getting the alleged news articles published on October 14, 2013 he has been unable to prove on record that the accused persons either authored or authorized the issuance of alleged press release dated October 13, 2013.
"Neither any media representative of the accused persons was brought in the witness box to prove the issuance of press release at the instance of the accused persons nor any first hand statement of any of the accused persons in respect of the alleged defamatory articles was brought on record," the judge noted.