Court Hears Criminal Defamation Plea Against Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi: A BJP youth-wing leader on Friday claimed before a Delhi court that he was allegedly defamed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP spokesperson Sanjay Singh by projecting him as the person who reportedly assaulted former minister Kapil Mishra.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gajender Singh Nagar was told by the counsel for Ankit Bhardwaj, a state executive member of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha (BJYM), that it was his namesake who had allegedly assaulted Mishra.

The court has now listed the complaint seeking prosecution of the two AAP leaders for criminal defamation for August 2 for hearing further arguments on consideration. Advocate Yogesh Swaroop, appearing for Bhardwaj who was present in the court, said his name was "wrongly taken" by the AAP leaders in the media by describing him as a BJYM officer bearer who had assaulted Mishra on May 10.

He said that the person apprehended at the spot for the alleged offence, purportedly belonged to their own party. The court questioned the counsel as to how could he say that the AAP leaders were talking about him only.

"If any newspaper publishes the name 'Ankit Bhardwaj',will you take it upon yourself?," the magistrate asked. To this, the advocate clarified that on the official Twitter account and facebook page of the Aam Aadmi Party, it was mentioned that the person who attacked Mishra was Ankit Bhardwaj who belongs to BJP and was showing his identity as an assailant by putting screenshots of his Facebook profile.

He said the AAP leaders were also mentioning his name on social media. "They (BJP supporters, his friends and relatives) also had seen Sanjay Singh declaring the complainant as the assailant by showing the complainant's Facebook profile and his work in BJYM and questioning BJP regarding that incident in the interview of Singh on different news channels," the plea said.

The complainant has said that the criminal defamation complaint was being filed as both Kejriwal and Singh did not reply to his legal notice in the matter. "The reputation of the complainant has been tarnished in the mind of party leaders, relatives, friends and public at large whoever saw the news," the complaint claimed.