Does Retweet Of A Defamatory Tweet Amount To Defamation? SC Asks Delhi HC To Decide AAP Leader’s Plea Decide By Sept. 25

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Delhi High Court to expeditiously decide by September 25 the petition filed by Aam Admi Party (AAP) spokesperson Raghav Chadha in the defamation case filed by Union Minister Arun Jaitley.

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra also asked Chadha to appear before the single judge of the high court on Monday.

Chadha's lawyer senior advocate Anand Grover relied on the apex court's verdict in Subramaniam Swamy case and argued that there is no case made out against his client raising the legal issue that retweeting Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal's tweet against Jaitley cannot be an offence.

He also opposed the appearance of two senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Sidharth Luthra for Jaitley without the court's notice to them.

Rohatgi and Luthra argued that the case got delayed in the lower court and high court because the accused who had taken several adjournments, which was denied by Grover.

Besides Kejriwal and Chadha, the four other accused facing defamation charges are AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai.

They had accused Arun Jaitley of corruption as the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), a post he had held from 2000 to 2013.