SC asks Kejriwal if he wants to apologise

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has challenged a Delhi High Court order upholding the summons issued to him as an accused in a criminal defamation case, whether he wanted to give an apology to the complainant in the matter.

On February 26, Kejriwal told the apex court that he made a mistake by retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee related to the BJP IT Cell.

During the hearing on Monday, a bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta was told by the counsel appearing for complainant Vikas Sankrityayan that Kejriwal may issue an apology on public platforms like microblogging platform ‘X’ or Instagram.

“You tell us what you want. We can put it to the other side. We are not going to step into your shoes or the other side’s shoes,” the bench told the counsel. The bench said the complainant can give the format of the apology to Kejriwal. “So, if you want to give an apology, you can circulate it without prejudice to your rights and contentions. Let him examine,” the bench told senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for Kejriwal.

“Otherwise we will examine the legal issue whether merely re-tweeting is criminal offence or not We may agree with you, we may agree with the other side. We will examine that,” the bench said. When one of the lawyers sought time to take instructions, the bench said, “Show him the apology. If he agrees to it, then it is fine.”

While posting the matter for hearing in the week commencing May 13, the bench said its earlier order asking the trial court not to take up the defamation case till March 11 would continue till the next date of hearing.