Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today withdrew from the Delhi High Court his case filed against a trial court decision, which sends him to judicial custody in a defamation complaint by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Ashutosh Kumar allowed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Kejriwal to withdraw the case after his counsel pleaded that he did not want to pursue the matter anymore. “The request (to withdraw the petition) is allowed,” the bench said.
Advocate Balendu Shekhar, appearing for Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport, agreed with Kejriwal’s counsel’s submission and said he has no objection on the request.
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In January last year, the chief minister had allegedly made a defamatory statement against Gadkari, for which Gadkari filed a criminal defamation case against Kejriwal. A magisterial court put Kejriwal on trial and sent him to judicial custody after refused to furnish personal bail bond on the issue, saying common people should not be harassed on technical grounds in courts of law in petty cases.
In his plea, Kejriwal said the magisterial order sending him to judicial custody was “illegal” as it was based on a “completely wrong premise of law”.
He had, subsequently, moved the high court against the magisterial order. However, on the high court’s suggestion he had sought bail from the lower court.
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The Supreme Court had later stayed Kejriwal’s prosecution in two criminal defamation cases, including the one filed by Gadkari, and also sought a reply from the Centre on the CM’s plea challenging constitutional validity of the penal provisions.
The bench had further said the petition was “infructuous” while noting that Kejriwal has already furnished his bail bond in the case.
The court’s observations had come during the hearing of Kejriwal’s plea on whether it was correct to seek bail bonds and sureties from people who are summoned by courts on complaints filed in cases like that of criminal defamation.