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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the counsel for both the parties to sit together and try to work out the issues in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kailash Gahlot’s plea seeking deletion of the alleged defamatory tweets by Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MLA Vijender Gupta against him over procurement of DTC buses.

A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Gaurang Kanth was hearing an appeal filed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Kailash Gahlot against a single judge bench order, wherein the judge had refused to grant him temporary injunction in the defamation suit.

During the hearing, the counsel appearing for Gahlot submitted, "Kindly allow the appeal. Lordships! In the past I have indicated to them that the matter be settled, but I don’t know where the issue is. What we are requesting is, barring two tweets, let them remove the two tweets”, he added.

The counsel submitted that criticism is not a problem but please don’t call anyone corrupt without showing something to that effect. He further contended, “My learned friend should only facilitate that two tweets maybe taken off from Twitter handle. That’s what we’re arguing”.

Justice Mridul then asked Gupta’s counsel whether calling someone corrupt is defamatory or not. “Can you call a politician corrupt?... Truth has a defence. The question is, can you establish that this is the truth”, he said.

“How can you say he’s corrupt? Has he been prosecuted for whatever you’re alleging i.e. corruption? It’s not pending, he’s not convicted. You’re the first person to know that trial being pending, FIR pending, investigation pending is not conviction”, Justice Mridul said.

“Have you (Vijender Gupta) been injuncted?...So you continue to call him corrupt? Like a gentleman put an end to this. These are elected representatives. They’re gentlemen’s. They are honorable gentlemen…You please do this”, he further said.

Justice Mridul said, “You sit and talk to each other. Try to work this out. This is not the first time the court has directed the tweet to be taken down….that’s an entirely different matter…all of this cannot be categorised as ‘fair speech’. You can criticise someone for their functioning but…”

Conclusively, while denying Gahlot interim relief, the court ordered, “At the joint request of parties appearing, in order to enable them to explore the possibility of arriving at an amicable resolution, the hearing of the matter is adjourned. List in the first week of August”.

The matter will be taken up for further consideration on August 3.

Last year in November, Gupta challenged the summons issued against him by a trial court in a criminal defamation case filed by Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot. Gahlot's complaint against Gupta alleged that Gupta had falsely accused Gahlot of corruption in the procurement of public buses.

Earlier, the trial court had taken the view that Gupta was prima facie guilty of offences under Sections 499, 500, and 501 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and summoned Gupta on November 16, 2021, upon a complaint by Gahlot stating that Gupta, a sitting MLA, had tarnished his reputation with mala fide intentions and for political mileage.

Gahlot alleged that Gupta had been making ill-intentioned remarks against him since March 8, 2021, with a deliberate intent to tarnish his image in the minds of "right-thinking people," through the reckless use of social media towards these ends. Gahlot emphasized in his plea that the Aam Aadmi Party-led (AAP) Delhi government's effort had been to ensure transparent procurement for the availability of a sufficient number of buses.

The issue came to the forefront when the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) requested the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for a preliminary inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the procurement by the Delhi Government of 1000-low floor buses.

Case Title: Kailash Gahlot v. Vijender Gupta & Ors.