HC stays proceedings against Kejriwal, Sisodia

The Delhi High Court stayed on Tuesday the proceedings in a defamation complaint made against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy CM Manish Sisodia by BJP leader Vijender Gupta.

Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar issued notice to the state and Gupta seeking their response on the joint plea by Kejriwal and Sisodia before the next date of hearing on February 27.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa and advocate Arunadhri Iyer, appearing for the two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, told the court that only their clients were named in the complaint when the alleged defamatory tweet was retweeted, commented upon and liked by thousands of others.

Kejriwal and Sisodia, in their plea filed through advocate Mohd Irsad, apart from seeking quashing of the complaint, have also challenged the subsequent orders of the lower court framing charge against them and summoning them for trial in the defamation case.

Gupta, in his complaint, had accused Kejriwal and Sisodia of "maligning" his image by allegedly accusing him on Twitter of being part of an alleged "conspiracy" to kill the AAP chief.