The summons sent to Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in a case for putative violation of the Representation of the People Act of 1951 by getting enrolled on voter lists for two different constituencies has been stayed by the Delhi High Court today.
The bench of Justice Amit Bansal while passing the order and giving relief to the CMs wife saYING that the stay on the trial court order will remain in force till the matter will be heard next .The Court shall hear the matter next on February 1, 2024.
The Court order read that notice has been issued. and in the meantime, there shall be a stay on the impugned order till the next date of hearing.
Summons were issued to Sunita Kejriwal by the Metropolitan Magistrate Arjinder Kaur of the Tis Hazari Court on August 29, 2023.The order was passed on a plea filed by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Harish Khurana.
The Delhi BJP leader Harish Khurana in the year 2019 had filed a complaint against Sunita Kejriwal stating that she is registered as a voter on the electoral rolls of Sahibabad (Ghaziabad constituency) as well as Chandni Chowk in Delhi, which is a clear violation of Section 17 of the Representation of the People Act.
It was stated she is also liable to be punished for the offences under Section 31 of the Act which deals with making false declarations.
Sunita Kejriwal approached the Court challenging the order issuing summons.
Senior Advocate Rebecca John appeared for the petitioner and told the High Court that as per the Representation of People Act, an offence is made out only if a person submits a false declaration and in this case, Khurana has not placed on record anything that proves a false declaration was made.
John argued that the summons was issued without proper application of mind.
John stated that this is a private complaint. The magistrate, before issuing summons, the least he could have done was check with the election commission,”
Meanwhile, the counsel appearing for the State told the Court that the complaint is barred by limitation.
The Court after considering the submission stayed the trial court order.