Delhi court orders trial against Arvind Kejriwal amidst ruckus
The accused, including Kejriwal, who were present before the court, complained of "serious threats", after which the judge asked all persons to go outside the courtroom, barring those concerned with the case.
Amidst high drama, with lawyers fighting with each other in front of the judge, a Delhi court on Saturday decided that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would face trial along with five other members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in a civil defamation case filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.Advocates from both sides indulged in a heated argument over the non-appearance of Jaitley, after Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Sumit Dass started proceedings. Apart from Kejriwal, notices were framed against AAP leaders Kumar Vishwas, Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai.The accused, including Kejriwal, who were present before the court, complained of "serious threats", after which the judge asked all persons to go outside the courtroom, barring those concerned with the case.The CMM framed notices against the AAP leaders and put them to trial in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) controversy. The row is that that they allegedly made defaming statements against Jaitley while he was the president of the cricketing body from December 1999 to December 2013.While AAP leaders, including Chadha, alleged that they were threatened by the lawyers of the second party, the counsel for Jaitley refused all charges and said that none of the lawyers from his team were involved in the ugly scenes that broke out in the courtroom."I had three lawyers from my team and none of them were involved in any altercation. One of the members of a new team of lawyers appearing for the AAP leaders had a heated argument with the a third party lawyer who was not from our team. These are mere tactics to delay the case further. But the court has now framed notices and they would face trial," said Jaitley's counsel Sidharth Luthra.He added that the accused have made frivolous applications to delay the case over the last one year.
Meanwhile, the AAP leaders and their counsels alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) threatened them during court proceedings."Death threats given to AAP leaders appearing in the Jaitley defamation case, including myself, by the lawyer on the other side in Patiala House Court," tweeted Chadha."The court proceedings were disrupted for nearly half an hour by the BJP. We received death threats and verbal abuses," said one of the counsels representing AAP. Kejriwal and the other accused have pleaded not guilty. The trial will commence on May 20.