New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal today opposed in the Delhi High Court the second Rs 10
crore defamation suit against him by Union Minister Arun Jaitley over
the use of an objectionable word by the Chief Minister's former lawyer
Ram Jethmalani.
Kejriwal claimed before Justice Manmohan that he
had never instructed his then counsel to use any scandalous words
against Jaitley during recording of his evidence.
Jaitley had
filed the second defamation suit after Jethmalani allegedly "abused" him
in the open court during the proceedings of the original defamation
suit he had filed against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and five other
party functionaries.
The chief minister, however, maintained
that apart from the ground of "absolute privilege, the present suit is
also barred by Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act".
"The
statement, upon which the suit is based on alleged defamatory
imputations made by the senior advocate (without any oath), allegedly on
the instructions of the defendant (Kejriwal), which he could not have
disclosed," Kejriwal said in his written statement filed through
advocate Anupam Srivastava.
Section 126 of the Evidence Act bars
disclosure of any professional communication between an advocate and
his client including instructions given by the client in relation to his
case.
During the cross-examination of the minister on May 17
last year before Joint Registrar in the Delhi High Court, Jethmalani had
used a term Jaitley found objectionable.
The second suit filed
through advocate Manik Dogra has said that the minister enjoyed a
reputation of honesty and probity and had sacrificed large professional
earnings in order to undertake public service.
The AAP leaders
had accused the BJP leader of corruption as the President of the Delhi
and District Cricket Association (DDCA), a post he had held from 2000 to
2013.
Jaitley, who had denied all allegations levelled by the
AAP leaders in December 2015, had filed a civil defamation suit seeking
Rs 10 crore damages from Kejriwal and five other leaders of his party,
claiming they had made "false and defamatory" statements in the case
involving DDCA, thereby harming his reputation.
PTI
