SC extends stay on proceedings against Arvind Kejriwal in UP over election law violation

The Supreme Court on Monday extended its interim stay on the proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case registered against him for allegedly making objectionable remarks against the BJP and the Congress in Uttar Pradesh during the 2014 parliamentary election campaignKejriwal has moved the apex court against an order of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court which had last month declined to discharge him in the criminal case pending before a trial court at SultanpurIn the FIR Kejriwal has been accused of an offence under section 125 of the Representation of the People RP Act 1951 which pertains to promoting enmity between classes in connection with electionsA bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna posted the matter for hearing in the first week of May after no one appeared for the respondentsInterim order to continue the bench saidSenior advocate A M Singhvi appeared for Kejriwal in the matterAlso Read Fodder scam SC refuses to issue notice on CBIs plea challenging bail to Lalu Yadav tags it with pending petitionKejriwal had allegedly said Joh Congress ko vote dega mera maanna hoga desh ke saath gaddari hogi Joh Bhajapa BJP ko vote dega use Khuda bhi maaf nahin karega Those who will vote for the Congress will be betraying the nation and the God will not forgive those who will vote for the BJPIn his plea filed in the apex court through advocate Vivek Jain Kejriwal has said the petition raises some important questions of law including whether a case under section 125 of the Act can be made out without there being any video clip or full transcript of the alleged speech made by the accusedThe plea said it has been alleged that during an election campaign on May 2 2014 for the Lok Sabha polls Kejriwal while delivering a speech had uttered some sentences which amount to commission of offence under section 125 of the ActThe plea said two days after the alleged utterances by the AAP leader on May 4 2014 a complaint was filed in the matterThough the said belated complaint alleged violation of only the Model Code of Conduct however the police instead registered the FIR on the very same day under section 125 RP Act This was done without any independent inquiry by the police This clearly shows the biasness and the action taken posthaste by the police it saidThe plea said it is the petitioners case that there is no proof or evidence that he had in fact made such alleged utterance and hence the very basic foundational evidence to prosecute him is absent in the matterIt further said Merely mentioning of God Khuda cannot amount to promoting enmity and hatred between different classes of citizensAlleged utterance by the petitioner does not refer to any particular caste or religion and hence by no stretch of imagination such an alleged utterance can promote the feeling of enmity or hatred amongst different classes of citizens it saidThe plea said Kejriwal had not referred to any religion or caste but only a political party and a political party cannot be considered as a class of citizens for the purposes of section 125 of the ActThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever