Supreme Court stays proceedings in defamation case against Atishi, Arvind Kejriwal; seeks response from BJP leader

The bench sought a response from BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who filed the defamation complaint in a trial court on allegations made in a press conference in December, 2018.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the proceedings initiated against Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal challenging the High Court's order refusing to quash a defamation case over their remarks on the alleged deletion of names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti provided interim relief to the AAP leaders and sought a response from BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who filed the defamation complaint in a court here on allegations made in a press conference in December, 2018.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the petitioners, contended this was a gross case. The speech was made during the political discourse, the complainant was not even named.

He also said the political party is not a distinguishable class.

The bench, however, said sobriety was missing in the statement.

AAP's former Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta and party leader Manoj Kumar were also named as accused in the complaint.

The petitioners were aggrieved with the High Court's order which found that the imputations were prima facie defamatory to vilify the BJP and gain undue political mileage.

The High Court had then dismissed the plea by Atishi, Kejriwal and two others Gupta and party leader Manoj Kumar challenging the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court since 2019.