New Delhi: A Delhi court will next month pronounce its order on whether Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders have right to be heard on point of framing of notice in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against them.
The hearing before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass on Tuesday saw Jaitley's counsel submitting that Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Raghav Chadha, Sanjay Singh and Deepak Bajpai "left no corner to defame" the union minister in Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy.
"They (accused) tweeted, retweeted and spread defamatory material against my client. They left no corner to defame my client. The claim that they cannot be tried for section 34 (acts done by several persons in the furtherance of common intention) of IPC cannot be accepted," Jaitley's counsel, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, told the court.
The court allowed the pleas of Kejriwal and Jaitley for exemption from personal appearance for Tuesday and fixed the matter for January 18 for order on whether the accused have a right to argue before a decision is taken on framing of notice.
The counsel was countering the arguments of noted jurist and Kejriwal's counsel Ram Jethmalani who said section 34 of IPC cannot be applied in the present case.
Jethmalani also said that there was no offence under 500 (defamation) of IPC made out against the Chief Minister.
While the defence counsel, including Jethmalani, argued that their clients have a right to be heard before the framing of notice, Luthra claimed that there is no provision in law which allows the accused to argue at this stage in such cases.
The accused had on October 24 moved the court seeking a chance to be heard before it decided on whether they would be put on trial in the present criminal defamation complaint.
Luthra had urged the court to frame the notice/charge against the accused persons.
Jaitley had filed the criminal defamation complaint alleging that the accused had allegedly defamed him in DDCA controversy.
A civil defamation suit has also been filed by Jaitley before Delhi High Court in relation to the matter seeking Rs 10 crore as damages.
