NEW DELHI: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal moved the Delhi High Court for quashing the defamation case filed by BJP leader Vijender Gupta. Kejriwal was summoned to court over the matter.
On Tuesday, Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri was the judge present for the hearing. He acknowledged that a previous high court ruling on re-tweets being constituted as defamatory and an offence under the Indian Penal Code was a matter that must be determined during trial.
The court asked Kejriwal’s lawyers to look into the judgement and ascertain whether in this particular case, the ruling would be applicable. The hearing for the matter was listed for August 23.
A tweet by the AAP leader had caused Gupta to file a complaint against Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia. Gupta accused him of ‘maligning’ his image by allegedly accusing him of being a part of an alleged ‘conspiracy’ to kill the AAP chief.
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa and advocate Arundahri Iyer, who represent the AAP convener, however denied the tweet having mentioned Gupta’s name at all. The lawyers added that Kejriwal had only re-tweeted Sisodia’s tweet without mentioning Gupta or any sort of allegation.