The Delhi High Court has refused to quash a criminal defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjriwal for retweeting a video on the BJP’s IT cell by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, Bar and Bench reported.
The case was filed by Vikas Sankrityan alias Vikas Pandey who claims to be a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is the founder of social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’. The video claimed that Pandey was part of the BJP cell and had offered Rs 50 lakh through a middleman to one Mahavir Prasad to withdraw allegations that the organisation spreads fake news.
Kejriwal was issued summons by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in July, 2019. He then moved the Sessions Court and then the High Court to seek relief and quashing of the criminal complaint by Pandey.
On Monday, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma upheld the trial court order summoning Kejriwal. The court said the chief minister had a significant following on social media and did not understand the repercussions of retweeting the video.
“Retweeting defamatory content does amount to defamation,” the court said, according to Bar and Bench.
The Aam Aadmi Party national convenor had argued that Pandey had not prosecuted the original author but only Kejriwal which suggested his mala fide intention. His counsel also claimed that there is no evidence to show that Kejriwal retweeted the video with an intention to harm Pandey’s reputation.
This report was published with AI assistance.
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