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The Supreme Court on Monday extended its interim order of stay on the trial court's proceedings till May 13 in the defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over retweeting a video of a YouTuber making allegations against the BJP IT Cell.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta adjourned the matter on the request of the parties and ordered that interim orders continue till the next date. The apex court granted more time to the complainant in the criminal defamation case against Kejriwal to discuss with him the modalities of an apology that would close the case. On February 26, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, submitted before the apex court that retweeting the video, which was allegedly defamatory, circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018, was a "mistake." The apex court had then directed the trial court not to proceed with the defamation case against him for the time being. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief had approached the apex court challenging the February 5 order of the Delhi High Court refusing to quash the summons issued against him. The High Court had said that reposting alleged libellous content would attract defamation law. The summons was issued in a defamation complaint lodged against him for retweeting a video of a YouTuber on the social media platform 'X'. Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, had told the apex court, "There is no problem in admitting that this was a mistake if he had known that these would be the consequences." The bench had then asked the complainant in the case to take instructions on whether the case could be closed based on Kejriwal's admitting to the mistake. A defamation complaint was filed against Kejriwal for retweeting a video by a YouTuber in 2018 accusing the founder and operator of a Twitter page called 'I Support Narendra Modi' of behaving like 'BJP IT CELL Part-II'. Kejriwal retweeted the tweet, which led to the founder filing a defamation complaint against the Chief Minister. (ANI)
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