Defamation case against Kejriwal: Court reserves order

A court here Saturday reserved its order on a defamation case filed by Nitin Gadkari seeking to summon former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for calling the BJP leader "corrupt".

Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha reserved the order for Feb 28. The complaint said that on Jan 31, "Kejriwal has deliberately released the list of 'India's most corrupt' people mentioning his (Gadkari's) name in a grossly irresponsible manner".

Advocate Pinki Anand, appearing for the Bharatiya Janata Party leader, told court that   Kejriwal had made the statement with malafide intention to lower the dignity of Gadkari.The court Feb 18 had recorded the statement of Gadkari and two other witnesses. 

Kejriwal "has deliberately tried to malign (Gadkari's) image though he is not involved in any wrongful or corrupt act", the complaint stated. It also requested the court to act against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and prosecute him for defaming the former BJP president.

Gadkari had told the court that false, baseless, scandalous, defamatory statements and news items by Kejriwal against him have been widely published, circulated and read by public at large and have lowered his dignity in the eyes of public.

He added that the defamatory statements were made with ulterior motive and wrongful intent to malign and tarnish his image.

Being then the chief minister, Kejriwal failed to maintain the dignity of the post by making a false statement, the petition has said.