Supreme Court Extends Stay On Defamation Proceedings Against Arvind Kejriwal For Retweeting Dhruv Rathee's Video On BJP IT Cell

The Supreme Court today extended for 6 weeks the stay on defamation proceedings initiated against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for retweeting a video by Youtuber Dhruv Rathee making certain allegations against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell.

A Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan passed the order, upon hearing Senior Advocate Dr AM Singhvi (for Kejriwal), who informed that efforts were ongoing to work out a settlement with the complainant and sought more time as there are "a lot of things going on" in Kejriwal's life (reference to the Delhi CM's arrest by CBI in the liquor policy case).

Advocate Raghav Awasthi (for the complainant), on the other hand, submitted that he will send across today a draft of the apology sought. This was countered by Singhvi, saying, "(Kejriwal) will express regret (for the retweet), but not in the terms dictated by him (the complainant)".

Awasthi responded, "some negotiation will have to take place" and requested that unlimited time may not be given by the court.

On hearing the counsels, the bench re-listed the matter after 6 weeks and directed that the interim order of stay on defamation proceedings shall continue.

On the last date, the court was informed that the parties could not get in touch to work out a settlement. To enable them to do so, the Court granted time and extended the stay earlier imposed on the trial proceedings.

To recap, Kejriwal initiated the present proceedings pursuant to a defamation case lodged against him for retweeting a video on social media platform 'X' making certain allegations related to BJP IT Cell.

Initially, he approached the Delhi High Court against summons issued in the case. However, the High Court refused to quash the summons. Aggrieved, the Delhi CM approached the Supreme Court.

On February 26, 2024, Singhvi stated that Kejriwal was ready to admit that the retweet was a mistake. As such, the top Court allowed time to the complainant to decide whether he was agreeable to the case being closed. In the meantime, the trial court was instructed not to take up the matter.

When the case was last taken up in March, whilst extending the stay on trial proceedings, the bench suggested that the complainant give a format of the apology sought from Kejriwal on public platforms, which if acceptable to him will put an end to the matter. It was made clear that if the parties fail to resolve the matter as such, the legal issue of whether retweeting constitutes a criminal offence will be taken up and decided.

For a detailed background, click here.

In related news, Kejriwal, who had been in judicial custody since his arrest by ED on March 21 in the Delhi liquor policy case, was recently granted interim bail by the Supreme Court. Be that as it may, he continues to remain in jail as he has now been arrested in connection with the liquor policy case by the CBI. The Aam Aadmi Party chief's plea challenging the CBI arrest (and seeking bail) was rejected by the Delhi High Court on August 5.

Case Title: Arvind Kejriwal v. State (National Capital Territory Of Delhi) & Anr. | Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 2413 of 2024