A jam-packed courtroom and 19 questions revolving around several tweets on alleged financial mismanagement in the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) marked Day 2 of the cross-examination of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley in his ₹10 crore defamation suit against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani quizzed Mr. Jaitley on how he “dare not” sue journalist Madhu Kishwar, who had tweeted against him [Mr. Jaitley] on financial mismanagement at the DDCA, but had sued Mr. Kejriwal, who had only re-tweeted the same.
Grave matter
“The originator Ms. Madhu Kishwar, you dare not sue. What do you have to say?” asked Mr. Jethmalani.
To this, Mr. Jaitley replied, “Many people on social media make irresponsible statements about people in public life but when a Chief Minister endorses them, it becomes a grave and serious matter. Even false allegations gain credibility. Repetition of libellous statement gives me a cause of action against the person, particularly if he has stature, to take action against the said person.”
The BJP leader also said he had never thought of suing Ms. Kishwar.
Reputation put to test
In a keenly observed cross-examination before Joint Registrar Amit Kumar, Mr. Jethmalani asked Mr. Jaitley if it was the first time he had put his reputation to test in public by contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar, which he finally lost.
Mr. Jaitley said the election result is not merely a test of a candidate’s reputation, considering that the Defendant No. l (Mr. Kejriwal) had lost the same Lok Sabha election in 2014 by 3.5 lakh votes.
At this, Mr. Jethmalani remarked, “I am asking you about your reputation, you are commenting about someone else’s reputation.”
To another question, Mr. Jaitley said, Defendant No. l had committed a serious act of libel through his malicious falsehood alleging that his wife and daughter were linked to fake companies, which was not only false but took the public discourse to a very low level.
Mr. Jaitley also acknowledged that several tweets by Bishan Singh Bedi and Sitaram Yechuri were re-tweeted by Mr. Kejriwal, but said it in no way concerned him as they referred to developments of 2015, and he had ceased to be the DDCA president in 2013.
On another question pertaining to a tweet by Ms. Kishwar, he said, “The tweet is highly defamatory and repetition by a chief minister adds greater credibility to the falsehood contained in the tweet.”
Mr. Jaitley was asked abouta letter written by Mr. Bishan Singh Bedi to the Prime Minister complaining against him, and asked if he could assign any reason for such a move. Mr. Jaitley said he had not seen the letter before and denied all allegations made therein.
The cross-examination will continue on March 15.
