September 27,2017:

Main issue which was in contention was, Whether the retweet falls under scope of the ‘publication’ under Section 499, Indian Penal Code, and thus leading to defamation.

On Monday, Delhi HC dismissed the petition filed by the AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha challenging his summoning in Defamation suit filed by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal while dismissing the Petition stated HC would not go into merits of the case.

The AAP Spokesperson had initially appeared before the Apex Court with a view to quashing his impleadment in case, in which he allegedly retweeted defamatory remarks made by the Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal against FM Arun Jaitley.

Supreme Court had directed Delhi HC to determine Whether case falls under the parameters of Section 482 Cr.PC, on or before September 25.

Senior Advocate Anand Grover appeared for Raghav Chadha while Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for Arun Jaitley argued for two consecutive days, before matter was reserved for the judgment on last Friday.

 

After hearing the arguments, HC concluded that,“There is sufficient material on the record to show that Petitioner is a spokesperson of AAP of which other the accused are the office bearers and the functionaries and thus belonging to a close knit group and followed Annexure- 1 to carry out the entire campaign using the Press Conference, post on facebook, tweet and retweet as the platform to reach large number of people.”

Justice Sehgal held that it did not deem it a case fit for Court to exercise its powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. thus Central issue would have to be determined by Trial Court.

Now the AAP Spokesperson, Raghav Chadha will fight the case alongside CM Kejriwal in the Patiala House Trial Court.