Delhi Chief Minister, and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal told the Supreme Court on Monday, February 26, that he made a mistake by retweeting a defamatory video posted by propagandist German YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018.
Following this statement by Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer, the Supreme Court restrained a trial court not to take any coercive steps against the Delhi Chief Minister in a 2018 defamation case wherein he retweeted a video by Dhruv Rathee.
Back in 2018, YouTuber Dhruv Rathee posted a tweet during the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court, accusing the founder and operator of an X (At that time Twitter) page called ‘I Support Narendra Modi’ of acting like ‘BJP IT Cell Part 2’. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal retweeted this tweet, which led to the account’s founder moving a defamation plea against the Delhi Chief Minister.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, without issuing notice on a plea of Mr Kejriwal challenging a Delhi High Court order which upheld summons issued to him as an accused in the criminal defamation case, asked the complainant whether he wanted to close the matter in view of the Chief Minister’s apology.
The Supreme Court asked the complainant in the case to take instructions if the same can be closed based on Kejriwal’s admitting to the mistake. Advocate for the complainant, Raghav Awasthi, agreed to the same.
The bench also asked the trial court not to take up the defamation case involving Mr Kejriwal till March 11.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Arvind Kejriwal, said, “I can say this much that I made a mistake by retweeting.”
Earlier, in its judgment dated February 5, the High Court had said that reposting libelous content would attract the defamation law. The High Court had said a sense of responsibility has to be attached while retweeting content about which one does not have knowledge and added that retweeting of defamatory content must invite penal, civil as well as tort action if the person retweeting it does not attach a disclaimer.
During the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court, Kejriwal’s lawyer Singhvi said, “They are prosecuting me (Kejriwal) very fast. They are hotfooting it. We will request for an adjournment before the trial court.”
When Justice Khanna said that Arvind Kejriwal need not appear in the court, Advocate Singhvi said, “In the context of elections, they are expediting the trial.”
Notably, Arvind Kejriwal’s party has 1 Lok Sabha MP currently, as we approach the Lok Sabha elections in few weeks.
