The Delhi High Court has said it will not quash the criminal defamation case filed against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kerjriwal for retweeting a video that was made by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee titled BJP IT Cell Part 2.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma upheld a trial court order summoning Arvind Kejriwal in the case.
Justice Kant said that CM Kejriwal has a lot of followers on X (formerly Twitter) and knew well how his re-tweet can be taken. The Court added that retweeting defamatory content does amount to defamation.
The present case was filed by Vikas Pandey, a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who also is the founder of the social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’.
In the controversial video, Dhruv Rathee is shown saying that Vikas Pandey is the second-in command of the BJP IT cell.
Rathee also said in his video that Pandey had offered Rs 50 lakh to one Mahavir Prasad to repudiate his allegations that the ruling party’s IT cell spreads lies and fake news.
The interview was uploaded by Rathee on his YouTube channel March 10, 2018 under the title BJP IT Cell Insider Interview after Prasad made allegations on the same in an interview with Rathee.
On May 7, 2018, Rathee uploaded the video titled BJP IT Cell Part 2 and alleged that Prasad was offered money. Kejriwal retweeted the video, which contained false and defamatory allegations against Pandey, on May 7 itself.
Pandey said that Kejriwal is both the Delhi CM and AAP politician and is followed by crores of people. He added how retweeting the video without checking the authenticity of the allegations, has publicly humiliated Pandey before a large number of the national and international audience.
On July 17, 2019, Kejriwal was issued summons by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. He approached the Sessions Court against the order but the court refused to quash the summons.
Kerjiwal then approached the High Court challenging the orders of both the Magistrate and Sessions Courts. He also sought quashing of the criminal complaint (defamation case) filed by Pandey.
The AAP National Convener said Pandey has not prosecuted Dhruv Rathee, who was the author of the tweet but deliberately moved against Kejriwal which demonstrates Pandey’s mala fide.