New Delhi, August 24, 2017: Looking at the escalating tally of cases against the Delhi CM, it would not be wrong to believe that either Arvind Kejriwal enjoys raising grave allegations against people without prior thought or substantiation, or that people find it easy to file libel cases against him.
A Delhi Court will now frame charges against Arvind Kejriwal, and his deputy Manish Sisodia on September 14 following a criminal defamation complaint filed by advocate Surendar Kumar Sharma. Additionally, Swaraj chief Yogendra Yadav is also undergoing trial as an accused in the vilification complaint.
The court had asserted in its order that the argument submitted by the accused do not sustain, following which notices (cases) were framed under the CrPC against them.
According to Sharma, volunteers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had approached him asserting that Kejriwal was very pleased with his social service. They had further offered him a party ticket to contest the 2013 Delhi assembly elections.
Sharma alleged that he was informed by Sisodia and Yadav that AAP's Political Affairs Committee had decided to give him the ticket, following which he had filled up the application form to contest the polls.
However, the party later denied him the ticket.
On October 14, 2013, Sharma further claimed that "defamatory, unlawful and derogatory words (were) used by the accused persons" in newspaper reports that breached his reputation in the society and the Bar, alike.
Responding to the complaint, the AAP leaders had asserted that as per the rules, every political party is entitled to the allotment or cancellation of an election ticket. They had further revealed the rationale behind their decision, saying Sharma was denied a ticket as had had not divulged correct details of the cases pending against him.
On grounds of the libel complaint thus filed, the trial court in Delhi had previously sought presence of the accused before it saying that there was prima facie material to supplement the summons which were issued under sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 34(common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Following this, a bail had been granted to Kejriwal, Sisodia and Yadav.
According to the PTI report, the accused were to appear before the court on August 23. However, they sought exemption from Metropolitan Magistrate Vijay Kumar Jha for personal appearance for the day on the grounds that they were involved in by-polls in Bawana region in north-west Delhi.
While charges in the complaint will now be framed on September 14, Delhi CM has already claimed the title of the 'Indian Slander Man' following his expanding tally, with as many as 10 defamation cases filed against him.
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