Supreme Court Grants Time To Arvind Kejriwal To Consider Issuing Apology In Defamation Case For Retweeting YouTuber Dhruv Rathee’s Video

Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared on behalf of Kejriwal.

During the hearing, the Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said to Singhvi, “......if you want to give an apology, you can circulate it without prejudice to your rights and contentions, let him (complainant) examine. Otherwise, we will examine the legal issue- whether barely retweeting is a criminal offence or not, we will have to examine that. We may agree with you, we may agree with the other side, we will examine that.”

The Court also made observations indicating that it is not inclined to accept a legal submission made on behalf of Kejriwal relating to the complainant withdrawing an earlier complaint.

“You just take instructions, show him (complainant) the apology, and if he agrees to it, it is fine", Justice Khanna told Kejriwal's Counsel.

"You have the right to choose your words, we are not going to step into your shoes, neither are we going to step into his shoes. If they accept it, fine otherwise we will go into the legal issue. If we find there is a case made out by you, we will issue notice. And if we have to stay, we will stay. If we find there is no case made out, we will dismiss it.”, the Court remarked to the Counsel for Kejriwal.

Kejriwal's Counsel then sought time to seek instructions from his client.

Accordingly, the Court adjourned the matter to May 13, and the interim order directing the trial court not to proceed in the matter was extended till the next date of hearing.

The Supreme Court, on the last date of the hearing, passed an interim order staying the trial pending before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Rousse Avenue Court, Delhi and recorded Delhi Chief Minister's acceptance that he "made a mistake" by re-tweeting a video titled "BJP IT Cell Part 2" by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, which resulted in the filing of the defamation complaint under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.

Kejriwal’s acceptance came when the bench categorically said that even retweeting has its consequences. The bench had adjourned the matter on the request of the Counsel for the Complainant, to seek instructions as to whether the Complainant is ready to withdraw his complaint considering the Chief Minister’s statement.

During the arguments on the previous hearing, Justice Khanna outrightly remarked, “On the question of retweeting, there are two ways to look at it. One is if it's an endorsement. If it's an endorsement, it may have its consequences. The other way to look at it is merely you found or on the Twitter website and you are just informing”.

Previously, by the impugned judgment, the Delhi High Court had observed that retweeting defamatory content can also attract the offence of defamation under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code. Refusing to quash a criminal defamation case filed against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for re-tweeting a video titled ‘BJP IT Cell Part 2’, the Bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma had observed, "Needless to say, the large social media following of a Chief Minister of a State undoubtedly implies a wider reach, making any retweet, a form of public endorsement or acknowledgement."

It was further observed that, "the online interactions and engagement on Twitter, which involves the publication of defamatory statements and content, and sharing such content with others by retweeting will surely attract liability since it would amount to posting defamatory content as one’s own by believing it to be true and thus, sharing it with the public at large."

Vikas Sankrityan, also known as Vikas Pandey, filed a case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal regarding alleged defamation before the High Court. Pandey claimed to be a supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the founder of the social media page 'I Support Narendra Modi.'

The dispute originated from a video posted by Dhruv Rathee, where he stated that Pandey, purportedly the second-in-command of the BJP IT cell, offered ₹50 lakh to Mahavir Prasad to retract accusations against the party's IT cell for spreading misinformation. Prasad made these allegations in an interview with Rathee.