Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal gets bail in defamation case filed by Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and 5 other Aam Aadmi Party leaders in a criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass granted relief to Kejriwal and AAP leaders Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai, on a personal bond of Rs 20,000 each with one surety of like amount.

Kejriwal and other accused had appeared in court in pursuance to the summons issued against them on March 9. The court has now fixed the matter for May 19 for further arguments in the case.

Ahead of the hearing, supporters of both the leaders clashed outside the court premises. BJP supporters were heard chanting ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’.

The court had observed that the allegations levelled by them against Jaitley were ‘not only insulting but jeeringly taunting and provocative’ and had summoned all the six accused for alleged offences under section 500 (defamation) of the IPC read with section 34 (common intention) the IPC.
Jaitley had filed a criminal defamation complaint alleging that Kejriwal and these five AAP leaders had allegedly defamed him in Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy.

The court, while summoning the accused, had referred to the statements and Facebook and Twitter posts of the accused, and said, "The statements have exposed the complainant (Jaitley) to ridicule, hatred and contempt amongst the right-thinking members of the society and lowered his reputation."

The court had noted that Jaitley, through the testimony of witnesses, has proved on record that while he was President of DDCA, "the accounts were duly audited/approved by AGM" and were submitted with the taxation authorities.
In his complaint, Jaitley had alleged that Kejriwal and others had made defamatory statements that he and his family had made pecuniary gains by associating with M/s 21st Century Media Pvt Ltd, a sports management firm.

On January 5, Jaitley had appeared in the court and said that Kejriwal and five AAP leaders had made "false and defamatory" statements. He had rejected the charge that he had siphoned off money from DDCA for his own benefit.

During recording of his statement, Jaitley had said that their statements against him and his family members lowered his dignity in the eyes of the public at large.
Jaitley, who was the DDCA President from December 1999 to December 2013, had said Kejriwal's statement that he received money when the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium was constructed during his tenure as the DDCA Chief, was false as Board of Directors had constituted a committee to supervise the work and he was not a member of this supervisory committee.

Jaitley had on December 21, 2015 filed the criminal defamation case against them and sought their prosecution for offences that entail a punishment of upto two years in jail.