A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and five AAP leaders in a criminal defamation case filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in connection with alleged corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass granted bail to Mr. Kejriwal on a personal bond of Rs. 20,000 with one surety of a like amount furnished by each accused. The others were also granted bail on the same conditions
Earlier, Mr. Kejriwal, Ashutosh, Kumar Vishwas, Raghav Chadha, Deepak Bajpai and Sanjay Singh appeared before the court on a summons issued last month.
“The allegations are not only insulting but jeeringly taunting and provocative. I have no hesitation to hold that the allegations levelled by the respondents [Mr. Kejriwal and five others] are derogatory in nature and amount to slander and libel,’’ Justice Dass had said in his summons order.
Alluding to the statements and the Facebook and Twitter posts by the accused, the judge said, “The statements have exposed the complainant [Mr. Jaitley] to ridicule, hatred and contempt among the right-thinking members of society and lowered his reputation.”
The court has fixed the matter for May 19 for further arguments in the case.
The AAP leaders had alleged financial irregularities in the DDCA during the period when it was headed by Mr. Jaitley.
Mounting a strong defence of his conduct as DDCA president, Mr. Jaitley slapped the criminal defamation case against Mr. Kejriwal and five others at the Patiala House Courts.
On February 4, the court concluded the recording of pre-summoning evidence.
On March 9, the court issued summons to the AAP leaders after recording the statements of Mr. Jaitley and his other witnesses in support of the allegation of defamation.
