New Delhi [India]: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday submitted before the Supreme Court that retweeting the video which was allegedly defamatory and was circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018, was a “mistake”.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta directed the trial court not to proceed with the defamation case against him for the time being.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief has approached the apex court, challenging the February 5 order of the Delhi High Court refusing to quash the summons issued against him. The High Court had said that reposting alleged libellous content would attract defamation law.
The summon was issued in a defamation complaint lodged against him for retweeting a video of a YouTuber on the social media platform ‘X’.
During the hearing, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told the apex court, “There is no problem in admitting that this was a mistake if he had known that these would be the consequences.”
Singhvi requested an adjournment before the trial court, saying that they were prosecuting Kejriwal swiftly.
“They are prosecuting him very fast. They are hotfooting it. We will request an adjournment before the trial court,” he said.
Justice Khanna said that Kejriwal need not appear in court for now, given the office he occupied.
The bench then asked the complainant in the case to take instructions on whether the case could be closed based on Kejriwal’s admitting to the mistake. The complainant’s advocate said he would take instructions from his client, and thereafter, the bench posted the matter for hearing on March 11.
“Relist on Monday, March 11. In the meantime, the matter will not be taken up by the trial court,” the bench stated in its order.
A defamation complaint was filed against Kejriwal for retweeting a video by a YouTuber in 2018 accusing the founder and operator of a Twitter page called ‘I Support Narendra Modi’ of behaving like ‘BJP IT CELL Part-II’. Kejriwal retweeted the tweet, which led to the founder filing a defamation complaint against the Chief Minister.
