Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was on Wednesday granted exemption from personal appearance for the day by a Delhi Court in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by an advocate.
The Chief Minister–designate sought exemption from personal appearance on the grounds that he had to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Metropolitan Magistrate Muneesh Garg allowed Mr. Kejriwal’s plea and directed him to appear without fail before the court on March 17.
The court also granted exemption from personal appearance on Wednesday to AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav on similar grounds.
The court had earlier released all the three AAP leaders on bail after they had appeared in the court on June 4 last year in pursuance to summonses against them.
The summonses were issued on the complaint of advocate Surender Kumar Sharma under Sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC, with the court saying there was prima facie material to summon the accused.
Advocate Rishikesh Kumar, who appeared for the three AAP leaders, submitted that in view of Tuesady’s Delhi Assembly election results in which the AAP has won 67 out of 70 seats, Mr. Kejriwal and two others were busy in meetings and could not appear in the court.
He said Mr. Kejriwal had to meet various party leaders and they were also scheduled to meet the Home Minister.
The plea was opposed by the complainant, saying Mr. Kejriwal and the two other leaders should have appeared in the court as all are equal before law.
He argued that be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Arvind Kejriwal no one is above the law and they should not waste the court’s time.
The court, however, gave a last opportunity to the AAP leaders and directed them to appear on March 17, when it is likely to pronounce its order on framing charges against the three leaders.
