IN THE COURT OF SAMAR VISHAL, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate – I Rouse Avenue Court, New

Ct Cases 44/2019 Vijender Gupta

Vs.

Arvind Kejriwal and Anr.

08.07.2019

ORDER

1. By this order, I shall decide whether to summon the respondents Sh. and Sh. Manish Sisodia or not on the allegations made in this complaint.

2. The complainant Mr. Vijender Gupta alleges that he is a law abiding citizen of India. He served as Vice President, Student Union and completed his Masters in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. He served as Municipal Councillor in the erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) from 1997 to 2012. He has served as Chairman of Standing Committee of MCD during 2007­09. He has been President of Bhartiya Janta Party,

Ct Cases 44/2019 Page No. 1/7 Vijender Gupta vs Arvind Kejriwal and Anr. Delhi Pradesh (Delhi BJP) from 2010­2013, during which period Delhi BJP won the MCD elections in 2012. He is presently Leader of Opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly since 2015. He is a senior Leader of the BJP and Member of National Executive of BJP for the last 10 years.

3. On 04.05.2019, respondent No. 1 Sh. Arvind Kejriwal was campaigning for Lok Sabha Elections in West Delhi. During his road show, he was slapped by some person. Sh. Arvind Kejriwal blamed Bhartiya Janta Party for this assault on him. Subsequently, it was revealed that Sh. Arvind Kejriwal himself demanded his liaison officer to remove the security personnels from his vehicle. The complainant on 18.05.2019 made a tweet Ex.CW1/A with respect to this incident. The tweet read as under :­

“4 मई कक @ ArvindKejriwal नन थपपड कककड सन पहलन लकइजननकग आनफसर सन कहक नक गकडड सन ससकयकररटड हटक दक CM कक ननदरश रकजनकमचन मन हह यह खखलकसक मननम नकयक थक, सजससन AAP कक चखनकवड लकभ नहड नमलक इस बबखलकहट मन कनजरडवकल कह रहन हह नक PSO, BJP कक ररपकटर करतक हह"

4. Complainant also tagged his Press Conference of 05.05.2019 with his tweet.

Ct Cases 44/2019 Page No. 2/7 Vijender Gupta vs Arvind Kejriwal and Anr. 5. In response to this tweet, the respondent No. 2 Sh. Manish Sisodia tweeted that the complainant is involved in a conspiracy to kill Sh. Arvind Kejriwal. The tweet Ex.CW1/C is as under :­

"बडजनपड सडएम कक हतयक करवकनक चकहतड हह. @ Gupta_vijender कन इस टडट नन सकनबत कर नदयक नक सडएम कक डनलड ससकयकररटड कक ररपकटर रकजकनक बडजनपड कन पकस पहहहच रहड हह और बडजनपड इसकन आधकर पर सडएम कक हतयक कक सकनजश रच रहड हह. इस सकनजश मम नवजमद गखपक भड शकनमल हम

6. On the same day, Sh. Arvind Kejriwal also made a tweet that Bhartiya Janta Party wants to get him killed. He tagged the aforesaid tweet of Sh. Manish Sisodia with his tweet. The tweet of Sh. Arvind Kejriwal Ex.CW1/D reads as under :­

"भकजपक मखझन कयय मरवकनक चकहतड हह? मनरक कससर कयक हह? म म दनश कन लकगय कन सलए सकस ल और असपतकल हड तक बनवक रहक हहह। पहलड बकर दनश मम सकस ल और असपतकल कक सककरकतमक रकजनडनत शखर हहई हह। भकजपक इसकक खतम करनक चकहतड हह। लननकन अकनतम सकहस तक मम दनश कन सलए ककम करतक रहहहगक।"

7. Aggrieved by the tweets of Sh. Manish Sisodia and Sh. Arvind Kejriwal and considering the allegations that the complainant is involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Sh. Arvind Kejriwal as defamatory, the complainant filed the present complaint of defamation. The tweet of Sh.

Ct Cases 44/2019 Page No. 3/7 Vijender Gupta vs Arvind Kejriwal and Anr. Manish Sisodia was tagged in the tweet of Sh. Arvind Kejriwal, which amounts to repetition of the defamatory matter. The allegations made against the complainant are serious in nature. Involvement of some person in any criminal conspiracy to kill someone is a serious offence. It is a cognizable offence and if the allegations are not true, it may have serious consequences to the life and liberty of that person as well as to his reputation.

8. The complainant has taken an objection to the allegations made against him and felt offended and defamed by these allegations of the respondents. According to him, his reputation has been lowered in the society by the use of such remarks by the respondents. He has examined himself as well as his witnesses namely, Deepak Bansal and Anurag Malik in order to substantiate his claim of defamation. The complainant therefore in order to vindicate his reputation has filed the present complaint for defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

9. Now with these allegations and evidence in support of them, I have to decide whether to summon the respondent Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sosidia for committing the offence punishable under section 500 of Indian Penal Code or not.

Ct Cases 44/2019 Page No. 4/7 Vijender Gupta vs Arvind Kejriwal and Anr. 10. Defamatory statement is one which tends to injure the reputation of a person. It is a publication which tends to lower a person's reputation in the estimation of right thinking members of the society generally or which make them shun or avoid that person. According to section 499 of The Indian Penal Code, a person is said to commit the offence of defamation when he, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person except where the publication is protected by the ten statutory exceptions provided in this provision itself.

11. The complaint clearly set out the imputations made against the complainant by the respondents Sh. Arvind Kejriwal and Sh. Manish Sisodia in the aforesaid tweets. In order to decide whether to summon respondents for trial, existence of only a prima facie case to summon them has to be seen in contrast to the standard of proof “beyond reasonable doubt” required for conviction. In legal terms, the consideration at this stage is whether there exists sufficient grounds to summon them or not (section 204 of The Code of Criminal Procedure). The situation may be different if the respondents are able to make out a defence for them from amongst those defences carved out in the provision itself (section 499 of The Indian Penal Code). But these

Ct Cases 44/2019 Page No. 5/7 Vijender Gupta vs Arvind Kejriwal and Anr. defences cannot be looked at this stage according to the law. The defences have to be pleaded and proved by the person charged with defamation. At the initial stage, the Court has to look into the complaint and the statement/evidence of the complainant and has to believe him. The Court has to see whether if the impugned material is prima facie defamatory or not and whether the Court has sufficient grounds to proceed with the case. The words referred above are if seen in the entire context of the things and evidence of the complainant seems to be defamatory if they do not fall within any of the statutory defences prescribed by law itself as well as the other legal requirements. The entire burden will be on respondents to plead and prove the defence on which they may rely upon.

12. In defamation cases, one of the test is whether under the circumstances in which the writing was published reasonable men to whom the publication was made would be likely to understand it in a defamatory sense. Much also depends on the intention of the maker of the statement which is a subject of trial.

13. Therefore, the aforesaid discussions shows that allegations of the respondents are prima facie defamatory and refers to complainant Mr. Vijender Gupta making him an aggrieved person within the meaning of section 199 Cr.P.C. The inquiry as contemplated under section 202 of

Ct Cases 44/2019 Page No. 6/7 Vijender Gupta vs Arvind Kejriwal and Anr. the Code of Criminal Procedure has been duly conducted by examining the complainant and his witnesses to arrive at the conclusion for this stage of the case. Therefore, in view of the aforesaid discussion there exists sufficient grounds to proceed against the respondents Sh. Arvind Kejriwal and Sh. Manish Sisodia under section 500 IPC. Accordingly, Sh. Arvind Kejriwal and Sh. Manish Sisodia are summoned for commission of offence of defamation under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

Announced in the open court this 08th day of July 2019 SAMAR VISHAL ACMM­I, ROUSE AVENUE COURT, NEW DELHI

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