Supreme Court to Hear Kejriwal's Plea on Defamation Case Over Retweet

The Supreme Court is set to hear Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's challenge to a Delhi High Court ruling upholding summons in a criminal defamation case. The case involves Kejriwal retweeting an allegedly defamatory video by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018. The court has asked if Kejriwal wants to apologize.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea from Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who is challenging a Delhi High Court order that upheld the summons issued to him in a criminal defamation case for retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in May 2018.

A three-judge bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar, and R Mahadevan is likely to hear the matter in which Kejriwal has admitted to making a mistake by retweeting the alleged defamatory video.

On March 11, the top court asked Kejriwal whether he wanted to apologize to the complainant in the matter. Kejriwal, on February 26, told the apex court that he had made a mistake by retweeting the allegedly defamatory video related to the BJP IT Cell.

The counsel for complainant Vikas Sankrityayan suggested that Kejriwal may issue an apology on social media platforms like 'X' or Instagram.

Earlier, the apex court asked the complainant whether he wanted to close the matter, given Kejriwal's admission of a mistake. The top court has directed the trial court not to proceed with the defamation case until further orders.

In its February 5 verdict, the high court ruled that reposting alleged libellous content attracts defamation laws. It stressed the importance of responsibility while retweeting content and noted that retweeting defamatory content demands penal, civil, and tort action if no disclaimer is attached.

The high court refused to quash the trial court's 2019 order summoning Kejriwal, stating that when a public figure tweets defamatory content, the ramifications are widespread.

If retweeting or reposting defamatory content is allowed without restriction, it might lead to misuse and individuals claiming they merely retweeted the content. Kejriwal argued that his tweet was not intended to or likely to harm the complainant.

Sankrityayan claimed that the YouTube video titled 'BJP IT Cell Part II' was circulated by Rathee, who lives in Germany, making false and defamatory allegations.

(With inputs from agencies.)