Prashant Bhushan terms Kejriwal's diktat against press as 'shocking'

Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on Monday termed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's diktat against the press as 'shocking', saying that it reflected hypocrisy and double standards on the part of the state government.

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"It is quite shocking that a government whose Chief Minister has gone to the Supreme Court saying that this criminal defamation provision in the IPC is unconstitutional should issue a diktat to the departments that if any minister or any government servant is defamed by the media should complaint to the government. And the government would file a criminal defamation against the person who has done that at government cost through the public prosecutor," Bhushan told ANI.

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"It shows not only hypocrisy and double standards on the part of the Delhi government and its Chief Minister, but it also shows willingness to use public funds and misuse the authority of the government in order to silence criticism, in order to stifle criticism," he added.

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Earlier on Saturday, Kejriwal had urged officials working with the Delhi Government to lodge complaints against 'defamatory' news items which 'damage the reputation' of the government with the Principal Secretary of the Home Ministry.