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 the stay on defamation proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for retweeting a video by Youtuber Dhruv Rathee making certain allegations against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell.

The Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta adjourned the matter on a request by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi (for Kejriwal), who said that after the last hearing, the parties could not get into touch to discuss settlement.

Accordingly, the court granted time to enable the parties to explore settlement, saying, "they (Kejriwal's lawyers) will do the needful, today itself they will get in touch." Advocate Raghav Awasthi appeared for the complainant.

The matter was posted to August 12, with directions for "interim order to continue".

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 was in judicial custody since his arrest by ED on March 21 over the Delhi Liquor Policy case, has been granted the benefit of interim release till June 1.

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