The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on a BJP leader's plea in defamation case against her for allegedly saying the BJP attempted to poach AAP MLAs. "Issue notice to the respondent," said Justice Vikas Mahajan. The matter would be heard in April.
The senior counsel for the complainant Praveen Shankar Kapoor argued a special court exceeded the scope of its jurisdiction while rejecting his defamation complaint and quashing the summons issued by a magisterial court to the AAP leader.
He objected to the special court "justifying" Atishi's conduct by calling her a whistleblower and sought a direction to stay the observations. Justice Mahajan however did not pass any direction on the stay and sought Atishi's stand on Kapoor's plea.
Kapoor's counsel said the special court ought to have confined itself to the ingredients of the offence of defamation. He said despite the allegations, Atishi did not come forward with any material to substantiate her claims before the police and could not be given the defence of truth.
Kapoor moved the high court on January 30, and said the special judge "ventured into political adventurism" akin to a political discourse by attempting to determine who was a bigger or smaller political entity. "The special judge did not even permit the complainant to have a trial in order to make good his allegations..The impugned order needs to be quashed as there are various legal infirmities in the said order. The Special Judge (MP/MLA Cases) has transgressed from the criminal complaint and has dealt with issues which are of little significance to the case in hand," said Kapoor's plea.
Kapoor, a former media head and spokesperson of the Delhi BJP unit, said Atishi levelled baseless allegations in a press conference held on January 27 and later on April 2, 2024 against the BJP. Atishi, said Kapoor, alleged the BJP was approaching AAP MLAs and offering them bribes to the tune of Rs 20-25 crore for switching sides. Atishi however moved the special judge by filing a revision petition to challenge the summons issued to her by a magisterial court.
The complaint also made former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as an accused in the complaint, but the magisterial court did not find sufficient grounds to proceed against him on May 28, 2024. On January 28, special judge Vishal Gogne held the allegations made by Atishi constituted the exercise of the right to freedom of speech concerning political corruption and not defamation.
