Arvind Kejriwal must face trial in a defamation case filed by Minister Arun Jaitley, said a Delhi court.
Not long after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal learned today that he must face trial in a Delhi court in a criminal defamation case filed against him by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, another court has summoned him and ordered him to face trial on defamation charges. The Chief Minister has been sued by former Test cricketer Chetan Chauhan.
The Delhi court hearing Mr Jaitley's allegations said Mr Kejriwal had exhibited "dilatory tactics to delay trial" and must be present in court on March 25 when charges will be framed against him and five other senior leaders of his Aam Aadmi Party.
Before that he has to appear in the other Delhi court on February 18 in the case filed by Chetan Chauhan of the BJP.
Mr Jaitley had in December 2015, filed civil and criminal defamation cases against Mr Kejriwal and the other AAP leaders for accusing him of corruption linked to Delhi's cricket body DDCA, which he headed for 13 years till 2013. The other AAP leaders named in the case are Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chaddha and Deepak Bajpai.
Mr Jaitley has alleged that Mr Kejriwal made false allegations for "political mileage, causing irreversible damage to him." Besides filing a criminal complaint, he also filed a civil suit seeking Rs 10 crore in damages.
"We had always maintained that this was nothing but delay tactics and there was no basis in law for what they were asking for" said senior lawyer Siddharth Luthra who is representing Mr Jaitley.
Chetan Chuahan has filed defamation charges against the Delhi Chief Minister and suspended BJP lawmaker Kirti Azad for alleging a sex racket in the DDCA or Delhi & District Cricket Association when Mr Chauhan was its vice president.
Neither Arun Jaitley nor Arvind Kejriwal and his colleagues were present in court today. Both had moved applications through their lawyers asking for exemption from appearing.
While Mr Kejriwal said he and the other AAP leaders were out campaigning in Punjab, where assembly elections will be held this week, Mr Jaitley had informed the court that he was busy with meetings and could not appear today.
Mr Kejriwal's lawyer Rishikesh Kumar, said, "We will challenge the dismissal of our petition in the High court as we believe that it is the right of the persons who have been accused to be heard before declining on framing of notice or charges."
Last year, both the Delhi High Court and then the Supreme Court had dismissed Mr Kejriwal's request that the Finance Minister's criminal defamation case against him be suspended.