News Nation Logo

HC rejects Kejriwal's plea to stay trial in defamation case filed by Jaitley: All you need to know

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal On Wednesday Suffered A Setback When The Delhi High Court Dismissed His Plea To Stay A Trial Court Proceedings In A Criminal Defamation Case Against Him And Other AAP Leaders Filed By Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Saying, It Is Devoid Of Merit.

News Nation Bureau | Edited By : Saurabh Kumar | Updated on: 19 Oct 2016, 05:57:48 PM
 HC rejects Kejriwal's plea to stay trial in defamation case filed by Jaitley: All you need to know

New Delhi:

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday suffered a setback when the Delhi High Court dismissed his plea to stay a trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case against him and other AAP leaders filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley saying, "it is devoid of merit".

Here is what the High Court said on the plea filed by Kejriwal- 

# "The request of the petitioner to adjourn the court proceedings before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) is rejected, being devoid of merit and the same is culminated into dismissal of the present petition."

# "Nothing have been brought before this court to the effect that continuation of criminal proceedings is abuse of the process of law before the CMM and any order is required by this court to secure the ends of justice."

# "Thus, this court is of the view that the order of the CMM, dated May 19, 2016 continuing with the proceedings is free from perversity, impropriety, illegality and non-sustainability which compelled this court to exercise the inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr PC."

Other observations by the High Court

The High Court also held that there is no illegality or unsustainability in the law in continuation of the criminal proceedings before the CMM and it is empowered to continue with the same.

What happened before

The court had reserved its verdict on July 25 on Kejriwal's plea challenging the trial court's May 19 order by which it had turned down the Delhi Chief Minister's request to adjourn hearing on a criminal defamation case before it, till the high court decides a related civil suit.

In his plea, Kejriwal contended that  there are two cases--one civil and the other criminal--filed against AAP leaders on the same allegations and the trial court should have stayed the proceedings in the matter, but it had declined.

Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation complaint alleging Kejriwal and five AAP leaders--Raghav Chadha, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai--had defamed him in the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy.

On April 7, the trial court had granted bail to Kejriwal and others in the case after they had appeared before it.

Jaitley had on December 21, 2015, filed the criminal defamation case against the AAP leaders and sought their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of up to two years in jail.

Besides the criminal defamation case, Jaitley has also filed a civil defamation suit in the High Court seeking Rs 10 crore in damages from Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family in connection with alleged irregularities in DDCA when he was its president. 

With inputs from PTI

Read More: Setback for Kejriwal: Delhi HC rejects plea to stay trial in defamation case filed by Arun Jaitley

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.

First Published : 19 Oct 2016, 05:51:00 PM

Videos