New Delhi: The Delhi high court is likely to give its verdict on Tuesday in one of the interlocutory applications in the second defamation suit filed by Union minister Arun Jaitley against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The Union minister had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal over the usage of “scandalous” words by his former counsel during proceedings of a defamation case.
In the previous hearing in November, Kejriwal’s lawyers had told the court that the suit was based on hearsay evidence and thus inadmissible.
According to PTI, Kejriwal made the submission before justice Manmohan, who is also hearing his separate application urging the court to strike down Jaitley’s response to his defamation suit of Rs10 crore after Kejriwal’s counsel confirmed that the words against the Union minister were used following instructions.
In his application, Kejriwal said that he was not present in court on the day the comments were made.
Kejriwal was earlier being represented by Ram Jethmalani, who in September announced his retirement as an advocate. The words were allegedly used while cross-examining Jaitley in a separate Rs10 crore defamation case filed by the Union minister against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders in 2015.
Jaitley’s lawyers had said Kejriwal had neither substantiated his claim that he did not instruct his former lawyer to use such words, nor did he initiate any action against his former counsel for using scandalous words without his permission.
In 2015, AAP leaders had alleged corruption charges against Jaitley in a case related to financial irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).
PTI contributed to this story.
