Wrongly summoned in defamation case by BJP leader, Kejriwal tells court

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday told a special court that he was wrongly summoned in a criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Karan Singh Tanwar for allegedly defaming him. The politician told special judge Ajay Kumar Kuhar that a magisterial court erred in summoning him as an accused on July 23 since the complainant did not follow the right procedure in filing the complaint against him.

The judge posted the matter for further hearing on December 6 after Tanwar sought time to address arguments on the issue. "It has been submitted (by Kejriwal's lawyer) that the allegations against the revisionist (Kejriwal) and the other three persons summoned (AAP leaders Dilip Pandey, Surender Singh and Amanatullah Khan) are of different dates and the complaint could not have been filed jointly. Counsel for the respondent no 2 (Tanwar) seeks time to address arguments on this issue... List for further arguments on December 6," the judge said.

Four AAP leaders summoned

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal had on July 23 summoned four AAP leaders, saying there are sufficient grounds to proceed against them and the allegation levelled by them were "prima facie" defamatory. Tanwar has alleged that on May 19, 2016, the AAP leaders addressed a press conference and made false and defamatory insinuations against him in relation to the murder of M M Khan, a law officer of New Delhi Municipal Council, on May 16, 2016. He said he had denied all the charges on May 21, 2016, in a press conference. However, the AAP leaders repeated the same allegations, again and again, Tanwar said.

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