A city court on Saturday decided to go ahead with a defamation suit filed against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal by Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s political secretary Pawan Khera.
The court plea of Kejriwal questioning the locus standi of the political secretary in filing a defamation case against him on Dikshit could only be decided after trial and not earlier. “I am of the view that the locus of the complainant to file the present case cannot be decided at this stage. Without framing notice of accusation and without conducting trial, no decision can be made on this issue,” Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Bansal said. Pawan Khera, Officer on Special Duty and Political Secretary of Dikshit, had filed a defamation against Kejriwal saying he had used ‘false , filthy’ language against the Chief Minister on a TV show.
Kejriwal, in his plea, said Khera has no locus standi to file the case as he had not said anything against the Political Secretary. Moreover, only an aggrieved person can file a defamation complaint. The court, however, said the question of locus standi of complainant (Khera) will be decided later. It also said if Kejriwal believes that he has been summoned wrongly, then he should challenge the summoning order. “This court cannot recall the summons issued against him,” the court observed and fixed the matter on October 28 for further hearing.