The Supreme Court asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday, who has challenged a Delhi High Court decision upholding the summons issued to him as an accused in a criminal defamation case, whether he intended to issue an apology to the complainant in the case.
On February 26, Kejriwal informed the apex court that he had made an error by retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee related to the BJP IT Cell.
During the hearing, a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was informed by the counsel representing complainant Vikas Sankrityayan that Kejriwal might issue an apology on public platforms like the microblogging platform ‘X’ or Instagram.
“You tell us what you want. We can put it to the other side. We are not going to step into your shoes or the other side’s shoes,” the bench informed the counsel. The bench stated that the complainant could provide the format of the apology to Kejriwal.
“So, if you want to give an apology, you can circulate it without prejudice to your rights and contentions. Let him examine,” the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who represented Kejriwal. “Otherwise we will examine the legal issue whether merely re-tweeting is criminal offence or not… We may agree with you, we may agree with the other side. We will examine that,” the bench added.
When one of the lawyers requested time to take instructions, the bench responded, “Show him the apology. If he agrees to it, then it is fine”.
While scheduling the matter for hearing in the week commencing May 13, the bench stated that its previous order instructing the trial court not to proceed with the defamation case until March 11 would remain in effect until the next hearing date.