The Supreme Court is set to hear on Monday a plea of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal challenging a Delhi High Court order upholding the summons issued to him in a criminal defamation case for retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in May 2018.
Know all about it in 9 points
*The case involves Delhi CM Kejriwal retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in May 2018.
*A three-judge bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan is likely to hear the matter in which Kejriwal has admitted that he ”committed a mistake” by retweeting the alleged defamatory video.
*On March 11, the Supreme Court asked Kejriwal if he intended to apologise to the complainant.
*On February 26, Kejriwal acknowledged his mistake and discussed the possibility of issuing an apology on social media platforms. The complainant’s counsel suggested an apology via social media.
*The Supreme Court, on February 26, did not issue a notice on Kejriwal’s plea but inquired if the complainant wanted to resolve the matter given Kejriwal’s admission of error. The court directed the trial court not to proceed with the defamation case until further orders.
*The Delhi High Court’s February 5 verdict emphasised that reposting defamatory content could attract defamation law consequences. The High Court highlighted the responsibility attached to retweeting and the potential legal repercussions if defamatory content is shared without a disclaimer.
*The high court, while refusing to quash the trial court’s 2019 order summoning Kejriwal, had said when a public figure tweets a defamatory post, the ramifications extend far beyond a mere whisper in someone’s ears.
*The court had said if the act of retweeting or reposting is allowed to be misused as it is still considered to be a vacant grey area of law, it will encourage people with ill intentions to misuse it and conveniently take a plea that they had merely retweeted a content.
*Kejriwal argued that the trial court did not consider that his tweet was not intended to harm the complainant. The complainant, Vikas Sankrityayan, alleged that the video titled ‘BJP IT Cell Part II’ contained false and defamatory allegations.
With inputs from agencies.
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9 things about defamation case against Kejriwal that SC will hear tomorrow
