Arvind Kejriwal granted bail by Delhi court in defamation case

A Delhi court on Tuesday granted bail to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal granted relief to Kejriwal on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 after he appeared before the court.

Rajeev Babbar, who had moved the application on behalf of the Delhi unit of BJP, seeking action against Arvind Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Gupta, MLA Manoj Kumar and Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Atishi.

Atishi had sought exemption from court appearance on Tuesday. She, Gupta and Manoj Kumar, too, were granted bail by the court The next date of hearing in the case is July 25.

Babbar had accused the AAP leaders of “harming the reputation” of BJP by alleging that over 30 lakh names were deleted from the voters’ list in Delhi by the election commission at the party’s behest.

In a tweet in December last year, Arvind Kejriwal had alleged that the deleted voters included “4 lakh baniyas, 8 lakh Muslims, 15 lakh poorvanchalis and 3 lakh rest”.

In an earlier hearing, the Election Commission of India refuted the allegations by AAP leaders and said they were “baseless and without facts”.

The poll panel had told the court that addition and deletion of names in the electoral rolls is a regular exercise undertaken without any influence of a political party or a private agency.

First Published: Jul 16, 2019 10:29 IST