A Delhi-based lawyer, Pradeep Dwivedi, who filed a plea against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a coward and psychopath, on Friday told a Delhi court that the statements made by Mr Kejriwal amounted to sedition.
Mr Dwivedi told metropolitan magistrate Abhilash Malhotra that Mr Kejriwal should face sedition charges for describing Mr Modi as a “coward” and “psychopath.” He argued that Mr Kejriwal’s statements could spread “disharmony” and “disaffection” in the country.
The lawyer sought Mr Kejriwal’s prosecution under Sections 124A (sedition) and 500 (defamation) of the IPC, alleging that there was “seditious intention” behind the remarks which spread “hatred and contempt” against the Prime Minister.
“(Mr) Kejriwal’s statement could spread disaffection and disharmony in the country. Political rivalry between Mr Kejriwal and Mr Modi was existing since elections,” the advocate, who appeared for complainant, argued. The court has now fixed May 28 as the next date of hearing.
During the arguments, he said it was unfortunate that personal interest of a person was prevailing over national interest. Regarding the locus of complainant in filing the plea, the counsel said being citizen of India, he was aggrieved by the comments of Mr Kejriwal and was “competent to file a complaint in a case where statements were made against the Prime Minister of the country.”
The complainant alleged that when the CBI had raided the chief minister’s principal secretary Rajendra Kumar’s Delhi Secretariat office on December 15, Mr Kejriwal made offensive remarks on his Twitter account against Mr Modi.
