New Delhi, Aug 12 (UNI) The Supreme Court on Monday extended the stay for six weeks on defamation proceedings initiated against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal by Youtuber Dhruv Rathee.
Rathee had filed a defamation suit against Kejriwal for retweeting his video in which he had allegedly made certain allegations against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) IT Cell.
A Bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice R Mahadevan passed the order, when Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, informed the court that he needed more time to work out a settlement. “Too many things going on in this man’s life’, Singhvi added.
Advocate Raghav Awasthi, appearing for Rathee, said that he will send across a draft of the apology sought.
To this Singhvi said, “We express regret, but it won’t be on his terms.”
Awasthi responded, “Some negotiation will have to take place” and requested the court that unlimited time may not be given by the court.
The bench after hearing both the parties re-listed the matter after six weeks and directed that the interim order of stay on defamation proceedings shall continue.
The Apex Court earlier made it clear that if the parties fail to resolve the matter as such, the legal issue of whether retweeting constitutes a criminal offence will then be taken up by the court.
