The Supreme Court on Thursday extended its interim order that stays the criminal defamation proceedings against Delhi’s current and former Chief Ministers, Atishi and Arvind Kejriwal. The case stems from their comments regarding the alleged deletion of voter names from the electoral roll in Delhi in 2018.
BJP leader Rajeev Babbar, who is the complainant, had sought some more time to file a response. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti granted him four weeks time. Earlier, the apex court had issued notices to both the Delhi Police and the complainant Babbar and sought their responses in the matter.
The proceedings in the defamation case before the trial court will remain stayed while the matter is under consideration by the Supreme Court.
Kejriwal and Atishi had approached the Supreme Court challenging the judgment of the Delhi High Court. It had refused to quash the criminal defamation case, Babbar had filed against them. The controversy started over their comments on the so-called deletion of names of 30 lakh voters from the voters list in 2018. The High Court had given its verdict that prima facie, the statements made by the leaders were defamatory and were made to vilify the BJP and cause a political advantage.
The High Court had rejected the application of Kejriwal, Atishi, and others to dismiss the defamation proceedings, which were pending in the trial court. The defamation complaint also named two other AAP leaders, Sushil Kumar Gupta and Manoj Kumar. The High Court had ordered AAP leaders to appear before the trial court, which was set to meet on October 3.
Earlier, 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. The AAP leaders argued in the High Court that the complaint was politically motivated and that Babbar, as a BJP leader, was not an aggrieved party in the matter.
With inputs from ANI.