Supreme Court advocate H.S. Phoolka has said that today's hearing on the defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders is only for recording the statement of the complainant and his witnesses.
"Today Arun Jaitley will record his own statement and the statement of his witnesses. In a criminal case, first the complainant's own statement is recorded then the witnesses which the complainant wants, their statements are recorded. The other side does not have any right to participate in the proceedings or argue at this stage. Today's stage is only for recording the statement of Mr. Arun Jaitley and his other witnesses," Phoolka told ANI here.
"Whatever allegations were made, were based on the previous letters, based upon the report of the different committee and internal report. So, this doesn't amount to defamation. And when this allegation was made the BJP itself said that there is nothing new and they are only the old allegation. So, when a person is only repeating whatever is already in the public domain, that doesn't not amount to defamation. Now that has to be brought before the court," he added
Phoolka further said there are sufficient materials and reports already in the public domain which have not been refuted by Jaitley till now, adding that the has to be brought before the public domain.
A Delhi Court will today hear the criminal defamation case filed by Jaitley against Kejriwal and other AAP leaders.
The Union Minister has taken Kejriwal and five leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party to court for accusing him of corruption at the Delhi cricket board which he headed for under his 13-year stewardship.
The case has been filed against five members of AAP namely, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai apart from Kejriwal.
