 "SC extends stay on Kejriwal defamation case over BJP IT Cell video retweet")
A Supreme Court bench on Monday (August 12) extended the stay on defamation proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for an additional six weeks, reported Livelaw.
The bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan issued this order following a hearing where senior advocate AM Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, requested additional time.
Singhvi explained that efforts to reach a settlement with the complainant were ongoing and that Kejriwal required more time due to various ongoing issues in his life, including his arrest by the CBI in the liquor policy case.
The bench has scheduled the matter for another hearing in six weeks and ordered that the interim stay on the defamation proceedings remain in effect. Previously, the SC had been informed that the parties had not yet been able to connect to discuss a settlement, prompting the Court to grant more time and extend the stay on the trial proceedings.
The proceedings were initiated due to Kejriwal’s retweet of a video by YouTuber named Dhruv Rathee in 2018, which made certain allegations against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell.
What is the defamation case against Kejriwal?
In 2018, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee posted a tweet accusing the founder and operator of an ‘X’ account called ‘I Support Narendra Modi’ of acting like ‘BJP IT Cell Part 2’. Kejriwal retweeted this, leading to the account's founder filing a defamation case against him.
More From This Section
During a hearing on February 26 this year, Kejriwal had acknowledged that he made a mistake by reposting the allegedly defamatory video concerning the BJP IT Cell. Subsequently, on March 11, the Supreme Court had inquired whether Kejriwal would consider apologising to the complainant.
The complainant’s lawyer, Vikas Sankrityayan, suggested that Kejriwal might issue a public apology on social media platforms such as ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) or Instagram.
On February 26, the Supreme Court, while stopping short of formally issuing a notice on Kejriwal’s petition challenging the high court’s ruling, asked whether the complainant would consider settling the matter given Kejriwal’s admission of his mistake.
The Supreme Court also instructed the trial court to suspend all proceedings related to the defamation case against Kejriwal until further notice.
High Court’s decision to decline dismissal of trial
Previously, on February 5, the High Court had ruled that reposting potentially defamatory content could constitute grounds for defamation.
The High Court had declined to dismiss the trial court's 2019 order summoning Kejriwal, noting that when a public figure tweets a defamatory video, the impact extends far beyond a private conversation.
The High Court had also expressed concern that if retweeting or reposting were allowed to be exploited, it could lead to the misuse of this provision by individuals with malicious intent. “These individuals could then argue that they were merely sharing existing content, thus avoiding responsibility for any defamatory consequences”, it had said.