SC Extends Stay On Proceedings Against Arvind Kejriwal For Remarks During 2014 General Elections, Lists Matter In July

A bench of Justice K M Joseph and Justice B V Nagarathna heard the matter today.

Earlier the bench had extended its interim stay on the proceedings and had posted the matter for hearing in the first week of May after no one appeared for the respondents. "Interim order to continue," the bench had said.

Kejriwal had moved the Apex Court against an order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court which had last month declined to discharge him in the criminal case pending before a trial court at Sultanpur.

In the FIR, Kejriwal has been accused of an offence under Section 125 of the Representation of the People (RP) Act, 1951, which pertains to promoting enmity between classes in connection with elections.

Kejriwal had allegedly said, "Joh Congress ko vote dega, mera maanna hoga, desh ke saath gaddari hogi.... Joh Bhajapa (BJP) ko vote dega use Khuda bhi maaf nahin karega (Those who will vote for the Congress will be betraying the nation, and the God will not forgive those who will vote for the BJP)."

In his plea filed in the Apex Court through Advocate Vivek Jain, Kejriwal has claimed that the petition raises some important questions of law, including whether a case under Section 125 of the Act can be made out without there being any video clip or full transcript of the alleged speech made by the accused.

In the plea, it is further contended that there is no evidence to prove that Kejriwal had in fact made such alleged utterance and hence, the very basic foundational evidence to prosecute him is absent in the matter.

It further said, "Merely mentioning of God (Khuda) cannot amount to promoting enmity and hatred between different classes of citizens."

"Alleged utterance by the petitioner does not refer to any particular caste or religion and hence, by no stretch of imagination such an alleged utterance can promote the feeling of enmity or hatred amongst different classes of citizens," it said.

The plea further stated that Kejriwal had not referred to any religion or caste but only a political party and a political party cannot be considered as a "class of citizens" for the purposes of Section 125 of the Act.