Court acquits Kejriwal, Sisodia, Yogendra Yadav in 2013 defamation case

A court here on Saturday acquitted Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav in a defamation case filed by an advocate in 2013.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidhi Gupta Anand said the complainant, advocate Surender Kumar Sharma (now deceased), failed to prove that the accused have committed the alleged offence despite several efforts.

In the order, the judge also said the concept of "Reputation was known in the society perhaps since the time the civilization itself established".

She quoted a text from Bhagwat Geeta "People also will speak of your unending infamy. And to an honoured person infamy is worse than death" and said the text "dates back to 2nd century CE (common era) highlighting the importance of a person's reputation".

"Even today, in modern India, governed by its Constitution, Right to reputation has been embedded as one of the fundamental rights covered under the larger concept of Right to Life. Hence, ..