Kejriwal's words against PM 'defamatory, seditious': Advocate to court

An advocate, who has filed a criminal complaint against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, today alleged in a Delhi court that remarks like "coward" and "psychopath" uttered by the AAP leader against Prime Minister Narendra Modi were "defamatory and seditious".

The lawyer argued before Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra that Kejriwal's statements could spread "disharmony" and "disaffection" in the country.

Complainant and advocate Pradeep Dwivedi sought Kejriwal's prosecution under sections 124A (sedition) and 500 (defamation) of the IPC alleging that there was "seditious intention" behind the remarks which spread "hatred and contempt" against the Prime Minister.

"Kejriwal's statement could spread disaffection and disharmony in the country. It was political rivalry between Kejriwal and Modi which was existing since elections,"advocate Anupam Dwivedi, who appeared for complainant, argued.

The court after hearing the arguments asked the advocate to place on record judgments in support of the complaint on May 28, the next date of hearing.

During the arguments, the counsel said it was unfortunate that personal interest of a person was prevailing over national interest.

Regarding the locus of complainant in filing the plea, the counsel said being citizen of India, he was aggrieved by the comments of Kejriwal and was "competent to file a complaint in a case where statements were made against the Prime Minister of the country."

The complainant alleged that when CBI had raided the Chief Minister's Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar's Delhi Secretariat office on December 15 last year, Kejriwal made offensive remarks on his Twitter account against Modi.

"Being fully aware of the autonomy and independence of the CBI, the accused (Kejriwal) owing to his personal interest and political enmity, made some offending remarks on his Twitter account towards the Prime Minister of this country, just because of the said raid by the CBI," the complaint said.

"On December 15, 2015, the accused posted the remarks on his Twitter account which reads as, 'Modi is a coward and a psychopath'. The remarks were made against the democratically elected Prime Minister of the largest democracy of the world," it said.

The complainant alleged that Kejriwal had "intentionally" used defamatory words with a view to spreading a sense of "hatred and contempt" towards the Prime Minister.