Kejriwal Fined Rs 10,000, Warned Not To Use Scandalous Words In Arun Jaitley¡¯s Defamation Suits

Delhi Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had a bad day in a Delhi high court on Wednesday when one bench gave him a warning, while another slapped a cost of Rs 10,000 on him in connection with defamation suits filed by Union minister Arun Jaitley.

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In the morning, Justice Manmohan cautioned the CM to refrain from putting any "scandalous" queries during Jaitley's cross examination. HC observed that the remarks made by senior advocate Ram Jethmalani, who had earlier appeared for the CM, were "indecent, scandalous and abusive" and demanded an undertaking from Kejriwal's new lawyer, Anoop George Chaudhari, who will now cross-examine Jaitley on August 28.

Also Read: Jethmalani Dumps Kejriwal Amid Arun Jaitley's Defamation Case, Wants Rs 2 Crore As His Fee

"I have never seen such scandalous words being used in any suit and it is uncalled for. This is not the way to conduct the cross examination," the court said, asking the AAP functionaries, "Are you aware that these words are unparliamentary?"

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HC asked Chaudhari to maintain decorum. "No person can be subjected to such indecent, offensive, scandalous, abusive language in the garb of cross-examination," the judge warned.

The court added that free expression should not be confused with the licence to make "unfounded, unwarranted and irresponsible aspersions" again cautioning Kejriwal that if there was even an "iota" of scandalous questions in future cross-examination, it would transfer the case from the joint registrar to a judge's bench.

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Chaudhari clarified to the court that his client never instructed Jethmalani to use any scandalous or abusive words against Jaitley, but HC was not impressed. "You (Kejriwal) are disowning him (Jethmalani), but your counsel made the remarks," it said. "We have to deal with the public. If we cannot control constitutional authorities like you, the public will come and say you allow them to make such statements. We have to curb it with a heavy hand," the court added.

It, however, refrained from passing any order against Kejriwal after noting his earlier submission that he had not instructed Jethmalani to use any objectionable remark against Jaitley.

Meanwhile, in a related matter in the second half, HC imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on Kejriwal after he failed to file his response to the second defamation suit filed by Jaitley over use of an objectionable word by Jethmalani.

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Joint Registrar Pankaj Gupta directed the CM to deposit the cost after he failed to respond to the court's May 23 direction asking for his reply on why defamation proceedings should not be initiated against him. Kejriwal's counsel Rishikesh Kumar sought more time to file the response, which was opposed by advocate Manik Dogra representing the Union minister.

Jaitley filed civil and criminal defamation suits in 2015 following statements by AAP leaders accusing him of corruption as the president of the Delhi and District Cricket Association, a post he had held from 2000 to 2013.