On February 26, Kejriwal admitted to the top court that he erred when he retweeted a purportedly slanderous film on the BJP IT Cell that YouTuber Rathee had posted.
The defamation case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was put on hold by the Supreme Court on Monday in order to give the parties more time to consider reaching a settlement.
Kejriwal has contested a judgment from the Delhi High Court that upholds the summons that were served to him in a criminal defamation case for retweeting a purportedly offensive video that YouTuber Dhruv Rathee disseminated in May 2018.
Judges Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta's bench declared that the previously granted temporary stay shall remain in effect until further directives.
Speaking on behalf of Kejriwal, senior attorney Abhishek Singhvi stated that following the most recent hearing on March 11, communication between the parties was impossible in order to negotiate a resolution.
No one got in touch with the complainant's attorney, Vikas Sankrityayan, following the previous hearing, he added. The bench put the issue on hold till the week of August 12 and informed the attorney that Kejriwal's side will now contact the complaint.
Kejriwal was asked by the Supreme Court on March 11 if he would want to apologize to the plaintiff.
On February 26, Kejriwal admitted to the top court that he erred when he retweeted a purportedly slanderous film on the BJP IT Cell that YouTuber Rathee had posted.
"The top court has been informed by Sankrityayan's attorney that Kejriwal could apologize for his actions on social networking sites like "X" or Instagram.
Without providing notice on Kejriwal's plea contesting the high court ruling, the highest court had asked the complainant on February 26 whether he want to end the case given that the petitioner had admitted to his error.
The trial court was instructed by the supreme court to hold off on taking up Kejriwal's defamation action until further orders.
The high court stated in its ruling on February 5 that reposting defamatory information will be subject to defamation law restrictions.
It said that while retweeting material about which one is ignorant, one must show accountability. If a disclaimer is not included, the individual retweeting the item risks criminal, civil, and tort action.
The high court stated that when a public figure tweets a defamatory statement, the consequences go much beyond just a whisper in someone's ear, even if it declined to overturn the trial court's 2019 order summoning Kejriwal.
It had stated that if reposting or retweeting material is permitted to be abused because it is still seen as a legal gray area, it will incite individuals to do evil deeds and easily accept the defense that they were only sharing content.
In the high court, the chief minister claimed that the trial court had overlooked the fact that his tweet had no malicious intent toward the plaintiff.
Rathee, a German resident, allegedly shared the YouTube video BJP IT Cell Part II, according to Sankrityayan.
"Wherein a number of false and defamatory allegations were made."
