Defamation case: The Supreme Court on Monday (September 30) stayed the proceedings in the trial court against Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the defamation case against them over remarks on the alleged deletion of the names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from the electoral rolls.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti issued notice to the Delhi government and BJP leader Rajiv Babbar on the plea of Atishi and Kejriwal and sought a response from them. The court will hear the case again after four weeks.
What happened in court?
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Atishi and Kejriwal, submitted that the defamation case has been filed by Babbar, as the authorised representative of BJP Delhi.
"BJP, neither central nor Delhi, has not filed any complaint. Babbar is not the person I have allegedly defamed," he submitted. Senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for Babbar, stated that the BJP leader has filed the case on behalf of the party.
Atishi and Kejriwal challenging High Court order
Both Atishi and Kejriwal have challenged the September 2 order of the Delhi High Court, which had refused to quash the proceedings against them and other AAP leaders over their remarks about the alleged deletion of names of voters, saying the imputations prima facie lowered the reputation of the BJP.
The high court had said the imputations were prima facie defamatory with an intention of vilifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gaining undue political mileage.
It had dismissed the plea by Atishi, Kejriwal and two others -- Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta and party leader Manoj Kumar -- challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court.
(With PTI inputs)
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