A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed a plea filed by an advocate against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly using defamatory and seditious words against Prime Minister Narendra Modi foll
A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed a plea filed by an advocate against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for allegedly using defamatory and seditious words against Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the CBI raid on his principal secretary’s office.
In its eight-page order, the court cited Subramanian Swamy versus Union of India case, saying a magistrate can take cognisance of the offence only upon receiving a complaint by the person who is aggrieved.
“However, in given facts of the present case, it is amply clear that complainant cannot be properly described as a ‘person aggrieved’ within the meaning of Section 199(1) CrPC. The complainant, Pradeep Kumar Dwivedi, is not having any locus standi to file the present complaint for defamation as he is not the aggrieved person. The complaint is not maintainable and dismissed,” metropolitan magistrate Abhilash Malhotra ruled.
Mr Dwivedi had argued before the court that every citizen had right to contest for protecting the dignity of the constitutional authorities.
He had submitted that by using foul language against the Prime Minister not only his sentiments, but also the sentiments of the whole nation were hurt and thus he was an aggrieved person u/s 199 CrPC.
However, the court rejected his submission. “If the contention of the complaint are accepted, a Pandora’s box of the complaints will open. Anyone will be able to launch the prosecution on behalf of a defamed person and that, in turn, will take away the discretion of aggrieved person to condone the act or to ignore it,” the court noted.
