New Delhi. In a defamation case related to retweeting a video of Dhruv Rathi, the Supreme Court has given time to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to settle the dispute with the complainant. Hearing the case on Monday, a bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta said that the interim stay already granted will continue till further orders.

No contact with complainant after March 11

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said that after the last hearing on March 11, both the parties could not contact each other to discuss the settlement. In fact, Kejriwal has challenged the Delhi High Court's order in May 2018 to maintain the summons issued to him in the criminal defamation case.

The complainant's lawyer gave these arguments

Complainant's lawyer Vikas Sankrityayan said that no one contacted him after the last hearing. The bench told the lawyer that now Kejriwal's side will contact the complainant and the next hearing of the case has been fixed in the week starting from August 12. On March 11, the apex court had asked Kejriwal whether he wanted to apologize to the complainant?

Kejriwal should apologize like this

In fact, Kejriwal had told the apex court on February 26 that he had made a mistake by retweeting the alleged derogatory video circulated by YouTuber Rathi, associated with the BJP IT cell. The lawyer appearing for Sankrityayan told the apex court that Kejriwal can apologize for his act on social media platforms like 'X' or Instagram.

SC asked these questions to Kejriwal

On February 26, the apex court, without issuing notice on Kejriwal's plea challenging the high court order, had asked the complainant whether he wanted to close the case in view of the petitioner admitting his mistake. 

The apex court had asked the trial court not to hear the defamation case involving Kejriwal till further orders. In its February 5 verdict, the high court said that provisions of the defamation law will apply to reposting of defamatory content.

What's in Dhruv Rathi's video?

The high court, while refusing to quash the trial court's 2019 order summoning Kejriwal, had said that when a public figure tweets a defamatory post, it has much more impact than whispering in someone's ear.

The chief minister had told the high court that the trial court failed to appreciate that his tweets were not intended to harm the complainant. Sankrityayan claimed that the YouTube video titled 'BJP IT Cell Part II' was circulated by Rathee, who lives in Germany, and made several false and defamatory allegations.