Court agrees to hear defamation case against Kejriwal

New Delhi, Jan 21 (IANS) A Delhi court on Monday agreed to hear defamation complaint against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and set February 5 for recording the statement of complainant and BJP leader Rajeev Babbar.

Babbar has sought proceeding against Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta, MLA Manoj Kumar and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Atishi Malena for harming the reputation of BJP by blaming the party(BJP) for the deletion of the names of "voters" from the electoral rolls in Delhi.

Additional Chief Metroplitan Magistrate Samar Vishal took cognsiance of the defamation complaint filed against Kejriwal and others by Babbar.

"All the accused made accusations against BJP in a calculated manner with the sole intention to portray a negative image of BJP in relation to the voters belonging to certain sections of society viz. Bania, Poorvanchalis, Muslims etc. The reputation of the complainant has been damaged beyond repair," Babbar said.

Babbar has alleged that Kejriwal has not only defamed BJP as the party but also all the people who are associated with the party.

"The statement of the accused (Kejriwal) was made with ulterior motives to degrade the reputation of the BJP to gain cheap political mileage in the upcoming elections," Babbar said in his plea filed through advocate Neeraj, S. N. Verma and Pooja Suri.

Babbar said Kejriwal's speeches are likely to be taken more seriously as he is the convenor of AAP.

"The statement made by the accused impeached the reputation of BJP in public eye and estimation," the plea said.