New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal why cannot he apologise to a constable for allegedly using word ‘thulla’ for policemen when he has been seeking pardon from others like Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.
Reportedly, Justice Anu Malhotra said if Kejriwal is apologising to others for his remarks, why can’t he do the same to the police officials and settle the matter.
His counsel said he would seek instructions from the chief minister on this, following which the court listed the matter for further hearing on May 29.
The court was hearing a plea by Kejriwal seeking quashing of a trial court order summoning him in a criminal defamation complaint filed by a constable.
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During the past few weeks, Kejriwal has tendered apology to Jaitley, Bikram Majithia and others for his comments against them.
The court had earlier stayed the trial court order summoning Kejriwal in the defamation complaint filed by Delhi Police constable Anil Kumar Taneja, who had sought dismissal of his petition seeking stay and quashing of the trial court order summoning him.
Opposing the Chief Ministers plea, the constable in his reply, filed through advocate L N Rao, had alleged that Kejriwal had “crossed all limits of decency” by using the insulting word thulla for a policeman in an interview to a news channel.
Taneja, who had filed the criminal defamation complaint filed on July 23, 2015, had claimed that by using the slang, Kejriwal “has intentionally insulted entire Delhi Police force as a whole and caused unnecessary provocation to the police personnel in Delhi”.
The high court in July last had asked Kejriwal to explain the meaning of word thulla he had allegedly used against the policemen while staying the trial courts order.