NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday extended its interim order staying the proceedings in the criminal defamation case against former Delhi Chief Ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi over their remarks regarding the alleged deletion of voter names from the electoral roll in the national capital in 2018.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Babbar, who had filed the complaint against Kejriwal and Atishi sought four more weeks to file a reply. A two-judge bench of the apex court, led by Justice M.M. Sundresh and also comprising Justice Rajesh Bindal, adjourned the matter.
While allowing Babbar’s request for a deferment, the court remarked, “Settle the scores somewhere else... As a political personality, the first thing you should have is thick skin.”
The two former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi had approached the apex court challenging the Delhi High Court’s verdict, which refused to quash the criminal defamation case filed by BJP leader Babbar over their 2018 remarks on voter name deletions.
The top court had, last year, stayed the proceedings in the trial court and issued notices to the respondents on the petition filed by Kejriwal and Atishi. The trial court had earlier observed that the remarks made by Kejriwal and others were prima facie defamatory in nature.
The BJP leader Babbar contended that the statements caused irreparable harm to his reputation and sought legal redress. Kejriwal had argued before the High Court that the defamation complaint was vague and did not clearly identify the “person aggrieved” by the alleged defamatory statements. He contended that the complaint was not maintainable and should be quashed.