A court here has issued a bailable arrest warrant against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a defamation case over his tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualification. First Class Magistrate, Diphu, Naba Kumar Deka Baruah issued the warrant of ₹10,000 on Monday and summoned the AAP leader to appear before the court on May 8.
Defamation case
Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council executive member Surjya Rongphar had filed the defamation case in the magistrate’s court on December 26 last year. The magistrate had issued summons against the Delhi Chief Minister to appear in his court on January 30.
The AAP leader, through his lawyer Gurpreet Singh Uppal, had sought time from the court till April 7 saying that it wouldn’t be possible for him to leave Delhi due to the April 23 civic body polls and the nature of his work.
In his order on Monday, the magistrate said, “On perusal of case record, it reveals that the accused Arvind Kejriwal has not appeared before this court on the earlier occasion on January 30, 2017, availing adjournment for long duration of more than two months by a prayer as submitted by his advocate although the accused was not dispense with personal attendance by this court as provided by Section 205(I) of the CrPC, 1973, as amended up to date.”
“Considering the above, the petition of his advocate is rejected”, the order said.