The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking discharge in a 2014 case registered against him over his alleged remarks that people voting for the Congress would be betraying the country, while those voting for BJP, even Khuda (God) would not forgive them, since they would be betraying the country.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan on Monday upheld the verdict passed by a court in Sultanpur against the national convener of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The High Court observed that it appeared that Kejriwal was threatening the voters in the name of God, knowing fully well that if he used the term ‘Khuda’, a set of voters belonging to different religions might have severely been influenced.
Prima facie, it was not decent for a person, who was the Chief Minister of a State, to utter any sentence or word, which had any hidden meaning, noted the Bench.
Earlier on October 24, 2021, then Additional District and Sessions Judge at Sultanpur, Pradeep Kumar Jayant, had granted bail to Kejriwal in two cases related to disturbing communal harmony and committing various electoral offences during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
As per Kejriwal’s Counsel Madan Singh, the Delhi Chief Minister had been booked in two cases lodged against him and other AAP leaders at Gauriganj and Musafir Khana police stations of Amethi during the 2014 general elections.
The FIRs had been lodged under various Sections, including Section 125 of the Representation of People’s Act and Sections 143, 186, 341 and 353 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), besides others, for allegedly delivering a provocative speech and violating the Model Code of Conduct, while campaigning for party candidate Kumar Vishwas.
Besides Kejriwal, Kumar Vishwas, Harikrishna, Rakesh Tiwari, Ajay Singh and Bablu Tiwari were also booked in those cases, Singh added.