Defamation case by Jaitley: HC levies fine of Rs. 5000 on Kejriwal for delay in filing reply

Jaitley had filed the second defamation suit after Kejriwal's then lawyer Ram Jethmalani allegedly "abused" him in open court.

Over delay in filing his reply to a fresh Rs 10 crore defamation suit filed by Union minister Arun Jaitley, the Delhi High Court on Monday imposed a fine of Rs. 5000 on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

The case pertains to the use of an objectionable word against Jaitley by Kejriwal's former lawyer Ram Jethmalani.

Joint Registrar Pankaj Gupta directed Kejriwal to deposit Rs 5,000 in the 'Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties'. The cost was imposed after Jaitley's counsel Manik Dogra informed the court that the chief minister's written statement to the suit was filed beyond the time of two weeks granted by this court on July 26.

In July, the Delhi High Court had imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on Kejriwal, after the Delhi CM failed to file a response to a Rs 10 crore defamation suit filed by Jaitley.

Joint Registrar Pankaj Gupta had then directed the chief minister to deposit the fine amount while granting him two more weeks to file his response.

The high court had on May 23 sought response of Kejriwal on why defamation proceedings should not be initiated against him.

Jaitley had filed the second defamation suit after Kejriwal's then lawyer Ram Jethmalani allegedly "abused" him in open court during proceedings of another defamation suit he had filed against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and five other party functionaries. Jethmalani had called Jaitley a "crook".

During the cross-examination of the Union minister on May 17 before the Joint Registrar in the Delhi High Court, Jethmalani had allegedly used a term Jaitley had found objectionable. A day after, another high court judge, who was hearing a connected matter, had termed as "scandalous" the remarks allegedly made by Jethmalani against Jaitley before the Joint Registrar.

The court has now fixed the matter for October 12.

OneIndia news with PTI inputs