GUWAHATI: An Assam court issued a bailable arrest warrant against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday after he failed to appear before it in connection with a defamation case concerning a tweet on the Prime Minister. Kejriwal had tweeted on December 15 last year: “Modiji 12 pass hain. Uske baad ki degree farzi hai”. (Modi has studied upto class 12. His degrees after that are fake). A defamation case was then filed by a local BJP leader Surya Rongphar, who is an executive member of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, in December. The court fixed May 8 as the next date of hearing.
In an order issued on April 7, first class magistrate Justice Naba Kumar Deka Barua of Diphu Court said the bailable warrant of arrest of Rs.10,000 was issued against the Delhi CM taking into cognisance that the accused had failed to appear before the court on January 30.
The order read: “ We have seen the petition submitted by Gurpreet Singh Uppal showing the ground that it is not possible for the accused, namely Arvind Kejriwal, to leave Delhi due to the municipality election in Delhi.
On perusal of the record, it reveals that the accused has not appeared before this court on the earlier occasion on 30/1/2017 too, availing adjournment of more than two months. Considering this, the petition of Gurpreet Singh Uppal is rejected and a bailable warrant of arrest of Rs.10,000 has been issued against the said accused. Complainant to take step. The next date for appearance is fixed on May 8, 2017."
A case under IPC Sections 499, 500 and 501 was registered against Kejriwal. These Sections suggest defamation and the punishment is “simple imprisonment for a term, which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both”.