Delhi HC to hear BJP leader's plea against CM Atishi in defamation case on Monday

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court will hear a BJP leader's plea challenging an order dismissing his defamation case against Chief Minister Atishi on Monday.

Justice Vikas Mahajan is scheduled to hear the matter.

In his plea, Praveen Shankar Kapoor said while rejecting the defamation complaint and quashing the summons issued by a magisterial court, the special judge went "beyond" the scope of his power in law.

"The special judge has ventured into political adventurism akin to a political discourse by attempting to determine who is a bigger/smaller political entity, which was not at all and never be the scope of adjudication in revision proceedings. The special judge did not even permit the complainant to have a trial in order to make good his allegations," the plea alleged.

Seeking the order to be quashed, the plea said there were various "legal infirmities" in it.

"The special judge (MP/MLA cases) has transgressed from the criminal complaint and has dealt with issues which are of little significance to the case in hand," it claimed.

According to the complaint filed by the former media head and spokesperson of Delhi BJP, Atishi levelled "baseless" allegations in a press conference held on January 27, 2024, and later on April 2, 2024, accusing the BJP of approaching AAP MLAs and offering them bribes to the tune of Rs 20-25 crore for switching sides.

The complaint also arrayed former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal as an accused. However, the magisterial court did not find sufficient grounds to proceed against Kejriwal in an order passed on May 28, 2024.

Atishi, however, moved the special judge's court by filing a revision petition challenging the summons issued to her.

On January 28, Special Judge Vishal Gogne held that the allegations levelled by Atishi constituted the exercise of the right to freedom of speech concerning political corruption, and not defamation.

The special judge said the pre-summoning evidence did not present adequate grounds to summon Atishi as an accused.