Defamation case: court to decide locus standi of CM's PS later

A Delhi court today said the plea of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal questioning the locus standi of the political secretary in filing a defamation case against him on behalf of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit can only be decided "after trial" and not before that.
"I am of the view that the locus of the complainant to file the present case cannot be decided at this stage. Without framing notice of accusation and without conducting trial, no decision can be made on this issue.
"As contended on behalf of accused himself that it is one of his defence, the decision whether this defence is successful or not can only be made after trial and not before that," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Bansal said.

Pawan Khera, Officer on Special Duty and Political Secretary of Dikshit, had filed the defamation case against Kejriwal saying he had used "false and filthy" language against the Chief Minister in a television show.
AAP leader, in his plea, said Khera has no locus standi to file the case as he had not said anything against the Political Secretary. Moreover, only an aggrieved person can file a defamation complaint.
The court said "the question of locus standi of complainant (Khera) will be decided later".

It also said if Kejriwal believes that he has been summoned wrongly, then he should challenge the summoning order.

"This court cannot recall the summons issued against him," the court said and fixed the matter on October 28 for further hearing.
Kejriwal, who is accused of making the alleged defamatory remarks against Dikshit during the power tariff hike protests, had earlier refused to seek bail in the case.
The AAP leader had organised several protests and accused the government of stalling Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission's move to cut power tariff by 23 per cent in 2010".