Delhi HC rejects plea to quash proceedings against CM Kejriwal, others in defamation case

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to quash the proceedings against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other AAP leaders in a defamation case over their remarks about alleged deletion of the names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls here, saying the imputations prima facie lowered down the reputation of BJP.

The high court said the imputations were prima facie “defamatory” with an intention of vilifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gaining undue political mileage.

Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta dismissed the plea by Kejriwal and three others -- Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta, Minister of Education Atishi and party leader Manoj Kumar -- challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court.

The high court, which had on February 28, 2020 stayed the proceedings, vacated the interim order and asked the parties to appear before the trial court on October 3.

The AAP leaders had challenged a sessions court order which upheld a magisterial court’s decision to summon them as accused in the complaint filed by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar.

The high court said a political party cannot be allowed to engage in mud-slinging and making “mischievous, false and defamatory” imputations against rival political parties.

“Under the constitutional schemes, the citizens have a right to know truthful and correct information in order to form an appropriate opinion about the social processes.

“However, at the same time, a political party cannot be permitted to sponsor the print media for political purposes, thereby slinging mud and making

mischievous, false and defamatory imputations on the rival political parties,” the high court said.

It further said, “The imputations in the present case are prima facie defamatory with an intention of vilifying BJP and gaining undue political mileage by attributing that BJP was responsible for deletion of names of about 30 lakh voters belonging to particular communities.”

The court said prima facie the tweets and press conferences appear to be malicious and defamatory to the Bharatiya Janata Party and specifically to its Delhi unit and the office bearers of the party, with serious consequences for having targeted particular communities.

The court said it is of the considered opinion that there is a fine distinction between legitimate criticism of the policies of a political party or the government

or an organisation and intentional malicious imputations which may be defamatory.