Delhi High Court slaps ₹1 lakh fine on petitioner for seeking media gag on reporting against Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to restrain media channels from creating pressure and airing sensational headlines on unfounded claims of resignation of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and imposition of President’s Rule in Delhi (Shrikant Prasad v Govt of NCT of Delhi & Ors).

The PIL also sought directions to provide adequate facilities to Kejriwal in Tihar jail to enable him to interact with his cabinet members and members of the legislative assembly for the efficient functioning of the Delhi government.

A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora criticized the petitioner and said that the PIL was seeking a gag on political rivals which cannot be done by the Court.

It, therefore, imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on the petitioner, a lawyer.

“What do we do? Do we impose emergency or martial law? How do we gag the press or political rivals? Your prayer is… Do we say no one will speak against Mr. A or Mr. B,” the Court asked while rejecting the plea.

The Court made it clear that it cannot impose censorship by directing media channels not to air their views nor can it proclaim emergency or martial law by stopping Kejriwal’s political rivals from protesting.

Kejriwal was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on March 21 in connection with the Delhi Excise policy case. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.

The PIL filed by lawyer Shrikant Prasad said that the Delhi government’s schemes have benefited the people of Delhi and that they have been praised by the global media as well as several other reputed institutions as and well.

“The conduct of Media as of today in this particular issue is very much prejudiced to the citizens and public of Delhi and making interference in the democratic process and a Chief Minister appointed by a setback majority of 62 seats in Delhi assembly elections of 2020,” the plea argued.

The plea further demanded that Delhi BJP President Virendra Sachdeva should be stopped from “making any undue pressure by protest or statement by illegal means for resignation of current Chief Minister of Delhi”.

The Court noted that Kejriwal has already filed a plea in the Supreme Court against his judgment and the apex court is seized of the matter so no direction to allow him to run the government from jail is called for.

“You keep a bank draft of ₹1 lakh ready. This is not public interest… what have we been reduced to,” the Court further remarked while dismissing the PIL.

Notably, a number of petitions seeking relief for Kejriwal or for his removal from the post of the Delhi Chief Minister have already been rejected by the High Court.

The Court had imposed a fine of ₹75,000 on a lawyer named Karan Pal Singh who had sought extraordinary interim bail for the Delhi Chief Minister.