A Delhi court has refused to hear a suit filed by Delhi State executive member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Ankit Bhardwaj against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh seeking nominal damages of ₹1.
Mr. Bhardwaj, in his suit filed at the Tis Hazari district courts, had alleged that the Chief Minister and Mr. Singh had defamed him by claiming that he had slapped sacked Delhi Minister Kapil Mishra who was sitting on a dharna on May 10.
Jurisdiction issue
Mr. Bhardwaj alleged that they had defamed him by making derogatory remarks against him in their tweets and by showing him as the person who had attacked Mr. Mishra.
Returning the complaint to Mr. Bhardwaj, Additional Senior Civil Judge V. K. Gautam said: “The present court lacks territorial jurisdiction to entertain the suit. Since the court has no jurisdiction to entertain the present suit, the plaint is returned back to the plaintiff. The plaint is returned to the plaintiff after putting necessary endorsements for its presentation to the proper court.”
Sanjay Singh’s address
The court also said that Mr. Singh did not reside in the area within the jurisdiction of the court.
The plaintiff had given the address of the Aam Aadmi Party office at 206, Rouse Avenue, on Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg near ITO as Mr. Singh’s address.
Cause of action
Further, the court said the perusal of the plaint showed there was no averment as to why any cause of action had occurred within the jurisdiction of this court.
