M A I N   N E W S

Kejri sent to Tihar Jail in Gadkari defamation case
AAP leader apologises for quitting as Delhi CM
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 21
A Delhi court today sent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal to jail till May 23 after he refused to furnish a bail bond of Rs 10,000 in a criminal defamation suit filed against him by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari.

The court orders came hours after Kejriwal apologised for quitting as Delhi Chief Minister after just 49 days in power.

Kejriwal was taken into a lockup on the court premises amid tight security and later shifted to the Tihar Jail.

The court had summoned Kejriwal as an accused in the defamation complaint filed by Gadkari, who had alleged that he was defamed by the AAP leader by including his name in the party’s list of “India’s most corrupt”.

Passing the orders, Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha said the AAP leader was looking for “some exceptional treatment”. “In these circumstances as the accused has refused to furnish a bail bond or even personal bond without surety, this court is constrained to take the accused into custody.”

While Kejriwal refused to furnish bail bond to secure bail, he said he was ready to give an undertaking that he would appear before court.

Kejriwal, who also argued in court, told the judge that he had not committed any heinous crime and was not looking for any exceptional treatment.

“This is my principle that when I have not done anything wrong, I will not seek bail. I am ready to go to jail,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal apologised for resigning as Delhi Chief Minister. Kejriwal, while addressing mediapersons, termed the decision to resign without consulting people as his “biggest mistake”. He said the party was preparing for fresh elections.

AAP suffered a jolt in the parliamentary elections, winning just four seats nationwide and failing to open an account in Delhi where it had a dream debut in the Assembly elections six months ago.

The AAP leader said though the party was contemplating a “referendum” in Delhi to know people’s views on whether or not the party should form a government again, it had dropped the idea since chances of coming back to power were “negligible” in the current scenario.

“We have found that the chances of forming a government in Delhi in the current scenario are negligible. So in such a situation, there is no point having a referendum,” he said.

“When we quit the government, we quit on the basis of morality. We didn’t want to compromise on our principles. But we didn’t know it will be misrepresented. I apologise for that,” said Kejriwal.

Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Rahul Mehra, who appeared for Kejriwal, told the magistrate that these cases were of political nature and in accordance with AAP’s principles, they would not furnish bail bond. Bhushan was a minister in the Kejriwal Cabinet.

The magistrate observed the procedure of courts could not be “thrown to the winds” at the whims of litigants. “The court cannot act as a mute spectator when a particular litigant intentionally seeks to violate the procedure established by law.”