In a huge setback to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, the Delhi High Court on Monday rejected his plea seeking quashing of a defamation case filed against him by a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma held that retweeting a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, had potential to amplify its reach adversely impacting the reputation of the person concerned.
Kejriwal had retweeted a YouTube video of one Dhruv Rathee a few years ago. The video,=titled ‘BJP IT Cell Part 2, was made by Rathee, who’s a known supporter of Kejriwal as both hail from Haryana.
Justice Sharma held that the trial court was well within its rights to summon Kejriwal in the defamation case.
Kejriwal had hired a battery of lawyers to defend himself. They included Manish Vashisht, Karan Sharma, Rishabh Sharma, Vedanth Vashishth, Mohd Irshad and Harshita Nathrani.
The defamation case has been filed by one Vikas Pandey, who runs social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’. Pandey was represented by lawyers Raghav Awasthi, Kunal Tiwari and Mukesh Sharma.