Supreme Court to hear Atishi, Kejriwal's plea against defamation case on September 30

The Delhi High Court ad refused to quash proceedings against them over their remarks about alleged deletion of names of voters, saying the imputations prima facie lowered the reputation of the BJP

The Supreme Court on Friday (September 27, 2024) deferred hearing on a plea of Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal challenging the high court order refusing to quash a defamation case over their remarks on alleged deletion of names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti noted the submission of senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, that her caveat was not mentioned in the office report and she could not file response as the petition was served late evening on Thursday.

The bench listed the matter for hearing on Monday (September 30, 2024).

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Ms. Atishi and Mr. Kejriwal, said he can argue the matter on September 30.

Both Ms. Atishi and Mr. Kejriwal has challenged the September 2 order of the Delhi High Court by which it had refused to quash the proceedings against them and other AAP leaders over their remarks about alleged deletion of names of voters, saying the imputations prima facie lowered the reputation of the BJP.

The high court had said the imputations were prima facie “defamatory” with an intention of vilifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gaining undue political mileage.

It had dismissed the plea by Atishi, Kejriwal and two others — Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta and party leader Manoj Kumar — challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court.

Published - September 27, 2024 02:52 pm IST