SC Extends Stay On Defamation Case Against Arvind Kejriwal As Complainant Seeks Time To Discuss Apology

The Supreme Court extends interim stay on proceedings against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in criminal defamation case against him for re-tweeting a video by Youtuber Dhruv Rathee on BJP IT Cell.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal had told the top court that he was ready to admit that the retweet was a mistake. ( Image Source :PTI )

The Supreme Court on Monday extended the interim stay till May 13 on trial court proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in criminal defamation case against him for re-tweeting a video by Youtuber Dhruv Rathee on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell.

Earlier in February, a bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta heard the matter and ordered a stay on the trial court's proceedings till March 11.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal had told the top court that he was ready to admit that the retweet was a mistake and make an apology. The court then allowed time to the complainant to decide whether he was agreeable to the case being closed.

Today, the court has granted more time to the complainant in the criminal defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal to discuss with the Delhi CM the modalities of an apology that will close the case.

Singhvi appearing for Kejriwal told the court that the case should be closed as he had agreed to apologise.

However, the court said that it was not an acquittal. The bench said that if you want to give an apology, you can circulate it without your rights and contentions. Otherwise, the court can still examine the legal issue whether retweeting is a criminal offence or not.

On February 5, Delhi High Court refused to quash the criminal defamation case against CM Kejriwal saying that online interaction on microblogging platform X and sharing any posts with others by retweeting attracts the liability for the offence of defamation.

A bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the high court upheld a trial court order summoning Kejriwal in the case. The court noted that Kejriwal has a significant following and he did understand the repercussions of resharing the video. However, the court held that if Kejriwal wants to justify his act of retweeting the video, it can be done at the stage of trial.

The court had said that retweeting a social media post for carrying defamatory content will attract charges of defamation in terms of Section 499 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court upheld the summons issued by the Magistrate and the order passed by the Sessions Court rejecting Kejriwal’s revision plea against the same. 

Vikas Sankrityan who is also a founder of a social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’ filed the defamation case against Kejriwal after he retweeted a video by Rathee.

Rathee in his video claimed that Vikas Sankrityan is part of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT cell and he had offered Rs 50 lakhs to Mahavir Prasad to take back allegations that the BJP IT cell spreads fake news.

In 2018, Prasad appeared in an interview with Rathee which was called "BJP IT Cell Insider Interview". Kejriwal shared this video on his X account.