Sep 27, 2024 01:09 PM IST
The high court’s September 2 order deemed the statements by the AAP leaders defamatory, suggesting they were made to gain “undue political mileage”
The Supreme Court on Friday set September 30 as the date to hear an appeal against a judicial order requiring Delhi chief minister Atishi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal to appear before a trial court on October 3 for criminal defamation proceedings.
This comes after the Delhi high court, on September 2, refused to quash the defamation proceedings against Kejriwal and Atishi.
The proceedings stem from allegations made by the two leaders, allegedly accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of orchestrating the deletion of 3 million voters’ names, from specific communities, from the Delhi electoral rolls. The high court had also directed the AAP leaders to attend the trial court hearing scheduled for October 3.
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A Supreme Court bench, comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti, deferred the hearing to September 30 after counsel for the complainant, BJP’s Delhi Pradesh vice president Rajiv Babbar, claimed he was not informed about the listing of the case despite filing a caveat. A caveat ensures that no order is passed by the court without first hearing the party that filed it.
“We were treated unfairly by the Supreme Court registry. Despite our caveat, we were only informed last night, leaving us unprepared,” senior counsel Sonia Mathur, representing Babbar, told the bench.
In response, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal and Atishi, expressed no objection to the adjournment.
As a result, the bench postponed the hearing to September 30.
The high court’s September 2 order deemed the statements by the AAP leaders defamatory, suggesting they were made to gain “undue political mileage”. The defamation complaint also named two other AAP leaders, Sushil Kumar Gupta and Manoj Kumar.
The single-judge bench of the Delhi high court noted that the AAP leaders’ accusations implied that the ruling BJP engaged in corrupt practices by manipulating the voter rolls to remove names, which could influence public opinion and voters’ choices. It added that the remarks tarnished the BJP’s reputation and undermined public trust in the party.
Kejriwal and the other AAP leaders had challenged the trial court’s decision, which upheld the summons issued by the magistrate court following Babbar’s complaint. Babbar contended that the AAP leaders damaged the BJP’s reputation by falsely accusing it of directing the Election Commission to delete voters’ names, particularly from the Bania, Purvanchali and Muslim communities, during a December 2018 press conference.
The AAP leaders sought to quash the magistrate court’s March 15, 2019, order and the sessions court’s January 28, 2020, order, labeling the complaint as “politically motivated.” They also argued that Babbar was not an aggrieved party.
However, the high court dismissed these arguments, noting that the AAP leaders’ claims of good faith could only be established during trial. It emphasised that while citizens have a constitutional right to truthful information, political parties cannot exploit the media to make defamatory allegations against their opponents for political gain.
The trial court hearing remains scheduled for October 3.
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