SC dismisses Kejriwal's plea, says Arun Jaitley's defamation case can proceed

The Supreme Court on 22 November dismissed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea seeking a stay on trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Kejriwal had appealed to the apex court, saying that the proceedings before a trial court should be stayed since a civil suit was already pending before the Delhi High Court and both could not proceed simultaneously.

The Delhi High Court had, on 19 October, dismissed his plea seeking a stay of the trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case, saying there was no "illegality" in continuing it simultaneously with a civil defamation suit in the high court.

The high court had said there was "no prejudice" on account of a pending civil suit and there was no "double jeopardy" and as such Kejriwal's plea was "devoid of merit". It had said the criminal and civil defamation cases were "different in nature".

Jaitley had filed a suit seeking Rs 10 crore in damages against the backdrop of attacks on him by Kejriwal and other AAP leaders over alleged irregularities and financial bungling in the DDCA of which he was the president for about 13 years till 2013. Jaitley filed criminal defamation case against Kejriwal and five AAP leaders in the Patiala House Court, while the civil defamation case was filed in the Delhi High Court.

--With agency inputs