Ranjit Mahanti
THE Metropolitan Magistrate Court, Patiala House, Delhi on Wednesday sent former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal in judicial custody after he refused to furnish a bail bond in connection with a criminal defamation case. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Gadkari has filed defamation case against Kejriwal. The Magistrate Gomati Manocha observed that Kejriwal was looking for “some exceptional treatment”.
The court also ordered the Delhi Police to take Kejriwal into custody and shift him to Tihar jail. He has been remanded in judicial custody till May 23. The order was passed after Kejriwal refused to give an undertaking and furnish a bail bond of Rs 10,000.
Kejriwal’s advocates Prashant Bhushan and Rahul Mehra told the magistrate that these cases are of political nature and as per the principle of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), they will not furnish bail bond. Bhushan also argued that there was no possibility that Kejriwal would tamper with the evidence or influence the witnesses and filing of undertaking was correct.
A criminal complaint under Section 499 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) was filed by Gadkari against Kejriwal. Gadkari submitted that Kejriwal had made false, malicious and defamatory statements against him only to gain cheap publicity and gain political mileage. On January 31, 2014 Kejriwal had produced a fabricated list of corrupt politicians which named Gadkari as one of the corrupt politicians. Ashutosh, Spokesperson of AAP also repeated the false statement and also falsely stated that Gadkari had sent a notice to BJP. No such notice was ever sent by Gadkari.