‘Made mistake by retweeting’, Arvind Kejriwal to SC in defamation case

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday told the Supreme Court that he made a mistake by retweeting an allegedly defamatory video circulated by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta, following the statement, sought to know from the complainant whether he wanted to close the matter in view of the Chief Minister’s apology and statement.

The court did not issue notice on a plea filed by Kejriwal against a Delhi High Court order, which upheld summons issued to him as an accused in the criminal defamation case.

The high court on February 5, 2024 had said that reposting alleged libellous content would attract the defamation law.

During the proceedings, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi for Kejriwal, said, “I can say this much that I made a mistake by retweeting.”

In view of his statement, the bench also asked the trial court not to take up the defamation case involving Kejriwal till March 11.

"In the interim, the trial court will not take up the matter," the bench said.

The high court had said a sense of responsibility has to be attached while retweeting content about which one does not have knowledge. Kejriwal had said in the high court that the trial court failed to appreciate that his tweet was not intended or likely to harm the complainant, Vikas Sankrityayan.

The high court said that retweeting of defamatory content must invite penal, civil as well as tort action if the person retweeting it does not attach a disclaimer.

Kejriwal had claimed before the high court that the trial court erred in not providing any reasons for issuing the summons. The complainant claimed the YouTube video titled ‘BJP IT Cell Part II’ was circulated by Rathee, who lives in Germany, “wherein a number of false and defamatory allegations were made”.