Court records statement of complainant in defamation case against Kejriwal

A special court in Delhi on Thursday recorded the statement of complainant Rajesh Kumar and two witnesses in a connection with an alleged objectionable comment posted by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against BJP workers on Twitter.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal was hearing the defamation complaint filed by Kumar against Kejriwal for posting the alleged tweet on September 30, 2018.

The matter is now slated to be heard on June 1.

In his petition, the BJP's legal cell convenor submitted that he was shocked and surprised after seeing a tweet in which Kejriwal had allegedly said that "BJP members keep roaming and raping Hindu girls around the country".

Kumar alleged that Kejriwal had said, "Bhajpa ke neta poore desh mein Hindu ladkiyon ka rape karte ghoomte hain" in his tweet.

"Mr Kejriwal has successfully dented the reputation of the complainant in particular and his party," the complaint, moved through counsel Saurabh Kansal, stated.

Kumar said that he wanted to file a complaint immediately but he thought people have a better sense of judgement and no one will take the tweet seriously.

"The tweet has caused embarrassment to the complainant on several occasions as some people in small social gatherings raise the issue to tease him," the complaint said."The subject tweet has not only caused defamation to the complainant but to crores of members of BJP and the accused cannot be permitted to let go for such an offence," it contended.Kumar requested the court to issue summons against Kejriwal on charges of defamation and promoting enmity between different groups of the Indian Penal Code and also provisions of the Information Technology Act.