Delhi High Court dismisses plea of AAP spokesperson

The Delhi high court dismissed a plea of AAP spokesperson Deepak Bajpai seeking rejection of a defamation suit filed against him by finance minister Arun Jaitley.

A bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi dismissed the plea of the AAP leader, who had contended that Mr Jaitley in his defamation suit has not made any specific averments against him and thus, he should be removed as a defendant.

The suit was filed against chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders, including Bajpai, by Mr Jaitley in the backdrop of attacks on him over alleged irregularities and financial bunglings in Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) of which he was the president between 1999 and 2013.

During the arguments on Monday, senior advocate H.S. Phoolka, who appeared for Mr Bajpai, said, “No averments against defendent 6 (Bajpai) is made out in the plaint even as per the documents referred to in the plaint.”

He said that this plaint is liable to be rejected as it is not supported by the affidavit of the plaintiff (Jaitley). “In defamation case there have to be specific averments but here it is absolutely nothing,” Mr Phoolka said.