The Supreme Court on Friday posted for September 30, Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and her predecessor and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal’s plea for the quashing of criminal defamation case instituted against them by BJP leader Rajeev Babbar over their remarks on the alleged deletion of voter names from electoral roll in national capital in 2018.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti posted the matter for hearing on Monday, after advocate appearing for Rajeev Babbar said a copy of the petition was served on them late in the evening on Thursday and sought time to respond to it.
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The matter was listed today for hearing and was adjourned.
The Chief Minister Atishi, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders have challenged the September 2, 2024 order of the Delhi High Court refusing to quash the criminal defamation proceedings against them.
The AAP leaders had alleged the deletion of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from the electoral rolls in 2018.
The High court had said the imputations were prima facie “defamatory” with an intention of vilifying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and gaining undue political mileage.
Dismissing the plea by Atishi, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders, the High Court had directed them to attend the trial court proceedings scheduled for October 3.
Atishi, Kejriwal and other AAP leaders — Sushil Kumar Gupta and Manoj Kumar — had challenged the defamation proceedings pending before the trial court.
The AAP leaders, before the High Court, had sought the quashing of the magistrate court’s March 15, 2019, and the Sessions court’s January 28, 2020, orders, stating that Babbar was not an aggrieved party and his complaint was “politically motivated” .
