The Supreme Court set to hear Arvind Kejriwal’s plea against a summons in a defamation case on Monday. The case will be reviewed by a three-judge bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan. Kejriwal acknowledged his “mistake” in retweeting a video that is at the center of the defamation allegations.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court set to hear on Monday (August 12) a petition from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, challenging a Delhi High Court ruling that upheld the summons against him in a criminal defamation case.
The case stems from Kejriwal’s retweet of an allegedly defamatory video shared by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in May 2018.
A three-judge bench consisting of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan will likely hear the matter, in which Kejriwal acknowledged he “committed a mistake” by retweeting the video.
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In a March 11 hearing, the Supreme Court asked Kejriwal if he wished to apologize to the complainant. Previously, on February 26, Kejriwal admitted to the Court that he erred by retweeting the video, which targeted the BJP IT Cell.
The complainant’s counsel, Vikas Sankrityayan, suggested that Kejriwal could issue an apology on social media platforms such as ‘X’ or Instagram.
On February 26, the Supreme Court, without issuing a notice on Kejriwal’s petition challenging the High Court’s ruling, inquired whether the complainant was willing to resolve the matter given that Kejriwal had admitted his mistake.
The Supreme Court also directed the trial court to hold off on proceeding with the defamation case involving Kejriwal until further orders. In a judgment delivered on February 5, the High Court ruled that reposting potentially defamatory content falls under defamation law.
The High Court emphasized that individuals must exercise responsibility when retweeting content they are not fully informed about. It further stated that retweeting defamatory material could lead to criminal, civil, and tort liability if no disclaimer accompanies the retweet.
While upholding the trial court’s 2019 order summoning Kejriwal, the High Court noted that when a public figure shares a defamatory post, the impact can be far more significant than just a private conversation.
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The High Court noted that if the act of retweeting or reposting is allowed to remain an unregulated grey area in the law, it could lead to misuse by individuals with malicious intent, who could easily claim they were merely sharing existing content.
Chief Minister Kejriwal argued in the High Court that the trial court failed to recognize that his tweet was neither intended nor likely to cause harm to the complainant.
On the other hand, Vikas Sankrityayan, the complainant, alleged that the YouTube video titled “BJP IT Cell Part II,” circulated by Dhruv Rathee, who resides in Germany, contained numerous false and defamatory statements.
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