Big relief for Arvind Kejriwal: SC stays proceedings in trial court against AAP chief, Delhi CM Atishi in defamation row

The Supreme Court of India stayed trial court proceedings against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi on Monday. The apex court also issud a notice to the Delhi government and BJP leader Rajiv Babbar following a plea from the two AAP leaders.

Arvind Kejriwal and Atishi approached the apex court challenging Delhi High Court's refusal to quash criminal defamation case by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar over their remarks on the alleged deletion of voter names from the electoral roll in the national capital in 2018.

Meanwhile Chief Minister Atishi on Monday moved a sessions court against an order summoning her in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader over her claim that several AAP MLAs were approached by the saffron party with offers of cash to bring down the AAP government.

Atishi and Kejriwal have challenged the September 2 order of the Delhi High Court.

They had made remarks on the alleged deletion of names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls in 2018.

The High Court had said the imputations were prima facie "defamatory" with an intention of vilifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gaining undue political mileage.

The High Court had dismissed the plea by Atishi, Kejriwal and others challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court. The defamation complaint also named two other AAP leaders, Sushil Kumar Gupta and Manoj Kumar.

It had also directed the AAP leaders to attend the trial court hearing scheduled for October 3.

Kejriwal and the other AAP leaders had challenged in the High Court the trial court's decision, which upheld the summons issued by the magistrate court following Babbar's complaint.

The AAP leaders, before the High Court, sought to quash the magistrate court's March 15, 2019, order and the Sessions court's January 28, 2020, order, labelling the complaint as "politically motivated" saying Babbar was not an aggrieved party.

(With inputs from agencies)