Defamation case:Court grants exemption to Kejriwal for the day

New Delhi, Feb 11: Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal was on Wednesday granted exemption from personal appearance for the day by a Delhi Court in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by an advocate.

The Chief Minister-designate sought exemption from personal appearance on the ground that he has to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday.

Metropolitan Magistrate Muneesh Garg allowed Kejriwal's plea and directed him to positively appear in the court on March 17.

The court also granted exemption from personal appearance today to AAP leaders Manish Sisodia and Yogendra Yadav on similar grounds. It had earlier released all the three AAP leaders on bail after they had appeared in the court on June 4 last year in pursuance to summons against them.

The summons were issued on the complaint of advocate Surender Kumar Sharma under sections 499, 500 (defamation) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC, with the court, saying there was prima facie material to summon the accused.

Advocate Rishikesh Kumar, who appeared for the three AAP leaders, submitted that in view of yesterday's Delhi Assembly election results in which the AAP has won 67 out of 70 seats, Kejriwal and two others were busy in meetings and could not appear in the court. He said Kejriwal has to meet various party leaders and they are also scheduled to meet the Home Minister.

The plea was opposed by the complainant, saying Kejriwal and the two other leaders should have appeared in the court as all are equal before law. He argued that be it Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Arvind Kejriwal, they are not above the law and they should not waste court's time.

The court, however, gave a last opportunity to Kejriwal, Sisodia and Yadav and directed them to appear on March 17, when it is likely to pronounce its order on framing charges against the three leaders.

PTI