Delhi HC refuses to quash defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi: ‘Attempt to defame BJP’
Delhi high court on Monday refused to quash the defamation proceedings against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and other members of the Aam Aadmi Party, including Atishi, Sushil Kumar Gupta, and Manoj Kumar over their remarks on the alleged deletion of voter names from electoral roll.
During the hearing, the high court said that their remarks on the alleged deletion of names from the electoral roll in Delhi are “prima facie defamatory”. The remarks were made with the intention of defaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and vilifying that BJP is responsible for the deletion of names.
A bench of Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta also rejected the defence made by the AAP leaders that their remarks were “bona fide” and made for “public good”, saying that the same needs to be proved during trial.
The high court observed that the remarks regarding the electoral roll were made by AAP leaders to “gain political mileage”, and upheld the trial court order summoning Kejriwal and other AAP leaders for the offence of defamation.
The high court, which had on February 28, 2020, stayed the proceedings before the trial court, vacated the interim order and asked the parties to appear before the trial court on October 3.
Kejriwal and three others — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta and party leaders Manoj Kumar and Atishi — had challenged a sessions court order that upheld a magisterial court’s decision to summon them as accused in the complaint filed by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar.
In 2018, AAP leaders including Kejriwal and Atishi alleged that BJP was involved in the deletion of over 30 lakh voter names from the electoral roll because these voters belonged to certain communities.
Babbar, who moved the defamation complaint on behalf of the party’s Delhi unit, had sought action against them for “harming” the reputation of the BJP by blaming it for the deletion of the names of voters from electoral rolls.
AAP leaders had claimed that the names of 30 lakh voters from the Bania, Poorvanchali, and the Muslim community were deleted by the Election Commission of India on orders of the ruling BJP, Babbar mentioned in his plea.