Defamation case: Arun Jaitley rubbishes Arvind Kejriwal’s claim of sparing Congress leaders

Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday rubbished in Delhi High Court the claim of Arvind Kejriwal that he has spared Congress leaders and only targeted him in a defamation suit, even though similar allegations relating to the irregularities in the DDCA were made by both parties.

Jaitley, who holds the twin portfolios of Finance and Defence, said a person accused of malicious falsehood and defamation cannot claim any dilution in his guilt on the ground that other offenders have been spared.
The senior BJP leader, appearing before Joint Registrar Pankaj Gupta, objected to the Delhi Chief Minister’s question and said it is for him to assess as to which statement made by which person had caused significant damage to his reputation.

His response came after senior counsel Anoop George Chaudhari and advocate Anupam Srivastav, appearing for Kejriwal, put to him that though Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken had made allegations of irregularities against him at a press conference in December 2015, the union minister chose to sue only the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief. Jaitley, 64 , was present in the court for the fifth round of cross-examination in a civil defamation suit of …read more