Defamation case: SC to hear plea of Atishi, Kejriwal on Monday

The Supreme Court would hear on Monday a plea of Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal challenging a high court order that refused to quash a defamation case against them over remarks on the alleged deletion of the names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from the electoral rolls.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti on Friday took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Sonia Mathur, who appeared in the court on behalf of BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, that her caveat was not mentioned in the office report and she could not file a response as the petition was served to her late on Thursday evening.

The bench listed the matter for hearing on Monday.

Representing Atishi and Kejriwal in the court, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi said he can argue the matter on September 30.

Atishi and Kejriwal have challenged the September 2 order of the Delhi High Court that refused to quash the proceedings against them and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders over their remarks about the alleged deletion of voters' names, saying the imputations prima facie lowered the reputation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The high court had said the imputations were prima facie "defamatory", with an intention of vilifying the BJP and gaining undue political mileage.

It had dismissed the plea moved by Atishi, Kejriwal, former Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Gupta and AAP leader Manoj Kumar, challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court.

The high court had asked the parties to appear before the trial court on October 3.

It had said the summoning order passed by the trial court for the commission of offences under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) does not call for any interference.

The AAP leaders have challenged a sessions court order that had upheld a magisterial court's decision to summon them as accused on the complaint filed by Babbar.

The AAP leaders have sought the quashing of the magisterial court's March 15, 2019 and sessions court's January 28, 2020 orders.

Babbar, who moved the defamation complaint on behalf of the BJP's Delhi unit, has sought action against the AAP leaders for "harming" the saffron party's reputation by blaming it for the deletion of the voters' names from the electoral rolls.

He has claimed that at a press conference in December 2018, the AAP leaders alleged that the names of 30 lakh voters from the Bania, Poorvanchali and Muslim communities were deleted by the Election Commission (EC) on the BJP's directions.

Kejriwal and the other accused have claimed that the trial court failed to appreciate that no offence, whether of defamation or otherwise, was made out against them.

The trial court failed to appreciate that the AAP leaders had not made or published any statement against Babbar or his party as alleged by him, the plea in the high court has claimed.