A city court of Delhi in a criminal defamation complaint filed by DDCA and its vice president Chetan Chauhan, has summoned Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal  as accused, while observing that their statements prima facie adversely affected the reputation of the cricketing body and its officials. Metropolitan Magistrate Abhilash Malhotra has asked Kejriwal to appear before the court on February 18, stating that it was prima facie clear that the former had made such a “serious defamatory remark” that a DDCA official had sought sexual favours from an unnamed woman for her son’s selection in the cricket team, only on the basis of hearsay information received from his friend.

“Under the aegis of DDCA, hundreds of players are playing cricket. Such a drastic statement and that too from the Chief Minister, may have a negative impact and leave an adverse impression in the mind of cricketers, officials and public at large, impacting reputation of the DDCA, its organisational functioning and the transparency of the selection process. A person especially holding a constitutional post is reasonably expected to exercise sensitivity and prudence in making discourses and imputations which may have negative impact on the reputation of an institution working in public domain,” the court said.

“In an interview to a news channel, Kejriwal had alleged that apart from financial irregularities, there were other major wrong-doings in DDCA, including sex racket.Kejriwal had alleged that sexual exchange is sought for by DDCA while making any player play for the team and this amounts to defamation,” the plea alleged, seeking prosecution of Kejriwal.

By Premji