A city court on Monday acquitted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia in two separate defamation cases lodged against them by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and advocate Amit Sibal after Keriwal and Sisodia tendered apology to both of them.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Samar Vishal also acquitted Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, a co-accused with Kejriwal in the defamation case lodged by Sibal, after he too tendered an apology to the lawyer through a letter. The relief came from the court after the apologies were accepted by the complainants in both the cases.
However, the proceedings against lawyer Prashant Bhushan and BJP leader Shazia Ilmi will continue in the defamation case lodged by Amit Sibal.
Earlier Kejriwal wrote to Gadkari expressing regret over certain statements he made against the BJP leader, who had filed a defamation suit against him, the court was informed on Monday.
Kejriwal and Gadkari also submitted a joint application before the court seeking withdrawal of the defamation case filed against the AAP leader.
The application was moved before the court of ACMM Samar Vishal after Kejriwal’s counsel submitted the letter in which the AAP leader has expressed regret for making statements without regard to their verifiability.
“I made certain statements, without regard to its verifiability, which seem to have hurt you and therefore, you have filed a defamation case against me. I have nothing personal against you. I regret the same,” Kejriwal’s letter written on March 16 said.
Gadkari had moved the court against Kejriwal for allegedly defaming him by including his name in the Aam Aadmi Party’s list of “India’s most corrupt”.
Kejriwal and Sisodia also tendered an apology to senior advocate Amit Sibal, son of former Union Minster Kapil Sibal, in a criminal defamation case filed by him.
Kejriwal and Sisodia apologised for making “unfounded allegations” against Sibal in a letter which was submitted before the ACMM court. Sibal and the AAP leaders also filed a joint application in the court seeking withdrawal of the case filed in 2013.
Besides, Kejriwal and Sisodia, complainant Amit Sibal had also named former AAP members Prashant Bhushan and Shazia Ilmi as accused in the case. The lower court on September 20, 2014, had put all the four accused on trial for the charge under section 500 (defamation) of the IPC.
Responding to questions Sisodia said they are not interested in any “ego fight” and don’t want to spend time in legal wrangling but in service of people. “If someone is hurt by our remarks, we will apologise. We will not make it a fight of ego. We are here to work for people. We have not spared time for court, we have spared time for us so that we could fight for people,” Sisodia told reporters on the premises of the Delhi Assembly.
Kejriwal had last week apologised to Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia for accusing him of being involved in drugs trade. The move had taken everyone by surprise, especially the AAP’s Punjab unit. The party’s Punjab president Bhagwant Mann and its co-president Aman Arora had resigned from their posts in protest against Kejriwal’s apology.
However, in a meeting on Sunday, Kejriwal attempted to pacify the party MlAs from the northern state to avert a split in the State unit.