Delhi HC dismisses Kejriwal’s plea to stay defamation case

New Delhi : In a blow to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday allowed Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to pursue both criminal and civil defamation cases against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo for alleging corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) when the BJP leader was heading the sports body for 15 years till December 2013.
“There is no legal impediment to invoke the civil proceedings for defamation as well as initiating the criminal proceedings for defamation simultaneously and continuation of the same,” Jutice PS Teji held in his 30-page judgment while rejecting Kejriwal’s plea for quashing the criminal defamation case pending with the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Courts, here.
Kejriwal had pleaded that there was no legal provision for two cases for the same offence. Jaitley filed the cases on December 21, 2015, against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for making “false and baseless allegations” of corruption against him and his family members in the administration of DDCA.
Jaitley had moved the Delhi High Court with a civil suit seeking Rs 10 crore as damages from Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpayee for carrying out a malicious campaign against him in the media, both mainstream and social, for political gains.
He also moved a trial court here, seeking criminal prosecution of the six under Sections 499, 500, 501 of IPC read with Sections 34 and 35 IPC which have a provision for awarding simple imprisonment for a period of up to two years. Only Kejriwal came to High Court, challenging the criminal proceedings.