SC dumps Kejriwal plea; defamation case against Delhi CM

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that the trial in the defamation case filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will continue. Kejirwal had contented that proceedings before the trial court should be stayed since a civil suit was pending before the high court.

The Delhi High Court had on October 19 dismissed his plea seeking stay of trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case, saying, there was no “illegality” in continuing it simultaneously with a civil defamation suit in the high court.

The high court had said there was “no prejudice” on account of a pending civil suit and there was no “double jeopardy” and as such Mr Kejriwal’s plea was “devoid of merit”. It had said the criminal and civil defamation cases were “different in nature”.

Regarding the challenge to the magisterial court’s May 19 order, dismissing his plea to grant a stay on proceedings due to pendency of a civil suit, the high court had said that the trial court order was “free from perversity, impropriety, illegality and non-sustainability”.