‘Made a mistake’: Kejriwal to Supreme Court on retweeting video on BJP IT cell
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday told the Supreme Court that he made a mistake by retweeting an allegedly defamatory video posted by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said, “I can say this much that I made a mistake by retweeting.”
The bench comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta refrained from issuing notice on Kejriwal’s plea contesting a Delhi High Court ruling that upheld summons issued to him as an accused in the criminal defamation case. Instead, they inquired whether the complainant wished to close the matter considering the chief minister’s apology.
The bench also directed the trial court to defer proceedings related to the defamation case involving Kejriwal until March 11.
In its judgement dated February 5, the Delhi high court refused to quash the summons issued to Kejriwal in the defamation suit, saying ramifications are far more than a whisper when a public figure tweets or retweets.
“When a public figure with a political standing tweets or retweets defamatory posts, the repercussions escalate given the broader implications on society. The audience therefore becomes a citizenry at large whose opinion may be influenced by the information they consume, including the defamatory statement published on social media,” a bench of justice Swarana Kanta Sharma said.
The judge added, “When millions of people follow a particular person, including the petitioner herein, on social media platforms such as Twitter, anything which is posted by the petitioner on his account is for the public who follow him.”
Vikas Sanskrityanan, who runs a social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’, lodged a defamation complaint against Kejriwal, alleging that the chief minister retweeted a video titled ‘BJP IT Cell Part II’, originally shared by Dhruv Rathee, containing false and defamatory claims against him. Sanskrityanan argued that Kejriwal’s vast online following facilitated the video’s dissemination not only in India but globally.