The Delhi High Court on Thursday termed “scandalous” certain remarks made by Arvind Kejriwal’s lawyer Ram Jethmalani against Arun Jaitley during his cross-examination in a civil defamation suit filed by the Union Minister.
Justice Manmohan said if such remarks were made on the instructions of Mr. Kejriwal, then he should “first step into the box and make good his allegations” before continuing with Mr. Jaitley’s cross-examination.
“If such allegations have been made on the instructions of Defendant 1 [Mr. Kejriwal], then no point in continuing with the cross-examination of the plaintiff [Mr. Jaitley] any more. Let Defendant 1 make good his allegations. Let him step into the box,” the judge observed. Mr. Jaitley’s advocates, Rajiv Nayar and Sandeep Sethi, had told the court that they wanted a clarification from the Chief Minister whether the remarks had been made on his instructions or by Mr. Jethmalani on his own.
Additional damages
Mr. Nayar said if Mr. Kejriwal had instructed the senior lawyer to make the adverse remarks, then they would seek additional aggravated damages of ₹10 crore from him.
If, on the other hand, Mr. Jethmalani had on his own made the remarks, then it would be a violation of the Bar Council of India rules, he said. The court said such a manner of cross-examination could not be allowed and something had to be done. It, therefore, directed Mr. Jaitley’s lawyers to file an application with regard to the adverse remarks made against him by Mr. Jethmalani.
“What is to be done when such scandalous remarks are made? It’s unpleasant,” Justice Manmohan said, adding that “cross-examination should be carried out in accordance with the law”.
Mr. Jethmalani had made the remarks on Wednesday before Joint Registrar Deepali Sharma, when the Union Minister was being cross-examined in the ₹10 crore civil defamation case filed by him against Mr. Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders for accusing him of financial irregularities in the DCCA.
