Arvind Kejriwal says sorry for retweeting Dhruv Rathee's video

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal apologised in the Supreme Court for retweeting an allegedly defamatory video posted by YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018. The video had made certain allegations related to the Bharatiya Janata Party IT Cell.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta have asked the complainant whether he wanted to close the matter in view of the chief minister’s apology, news agency PTI reported.

The court has also asked the trial court to not take up the defamation case till March 11.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told PTI, “I can say this much that I made a mistake by retweeting.”

The AAP supremo had approached the top court challenging the Delhi High Court order, which on February 5, ruled that reposting alleged libelous content would attract the defamation law.

The high court had said a sense of responsibility has to be attached while retweeting content about which one does not have knowledge and added that retweeting of defamatory content must invite penal, civil as well as tort action if the person retweeting it does not attach a disclaimer.

The chief minister had said in the high court that the trial court failed to appreciate that his tweet was not intended or likely to harm the complainant, Vikas Sankrityayan.

Kejriwal's plea before the high court said the trial court erred in not providing any reasons for issuing the summons and the orders were 'ex-facie' devoid of judicial application of mind.

Sankrityayan claimed the YouTube video titled 'BJP IT Cell Part II' was circulated by Rathee, who lives in Germany, "wherein a number of false and defamatory allegations were made".