Kejriwal's appearance in court witnessed huge crowd

Arvind Kejriwal's appearance in a Delhi court today attracted a huge crowd of onlookers, a majority of them lawyers and journalists, prompting the judge to change the courtroom as policemen were unable to bring in the AAP leader for the proceedings.

The court had fixed the matter for hearing at 12 noon but by 11.40 am, the courtroom was jampacked and even the lawyers representing Kejriwal and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who has filed the criminal defamation complaint against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, failed to enter the court.

Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha requested that the people not connected with the case should leave the courtroom so that the proceedings could commence.

But as the courtroom remained crowded, the magistrate said it would not be possible to hold proceedings in such a manner.

After around 40 minutes, Kejriwal was produced before the magistrate in another courtroom and as soon as the information spread among those present in the jampacked courtroom, lawyers and scribes rushed there.

Kejriwal was produced before the court amidst tight security and policemen checked the identity cards of scribes before allowing them to enter the courtroom.

In the courtroom, police personnel cordoned off the area near the judge's dais and only lawyers representing Kejriwal and Gadkari and some journalists were allowed to enter there.

Scores of supporters of AAP were present outside the courtroom along with some top leaders of the party.