Court grants Kejriwal exemption in defamation case

New Delhi, April 30 (IANS) A Delhi court on Tuesday granted exemption from personal appearance to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and three others in a defamation complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajiv Babbar.

However, Additional Chief Metroplitan Magistrate Samar Vishal asked Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta, MLA Manoj Kumar and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Atishi to appear before the court on June 7, the next date fixed for hearing.

On March 15, the court issued summons to Kejriwal and the others to appear before it on April 30.

Advocate Mohd Irshad requested the court to grant exemption to all these political leaders as they are busy in political events in Delhi and Haryana.

The court was hearing the defamation case filed by Babbar, who has sought proceedings against Kejriwal and others for harming the reputation of the BJP by blaming the party for the deletion of names of "voters" from the electoral rolls in Delhi.

"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, namely, Bania, Poorvanchalis, Muslims, among others. The reputation of the complainant has been damaged beyond repair," Babbar said.

Babbar has alleged that Kejriwal has not only defamed the BJP 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.