HC closes plea seeking action against Rahul, Kejriwal, Akhilesh for making ‘false’ statements

New Delhi, Mar 20 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea seeking directions to the Centre to take action against politicians Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav for allegedly making false and misleading statements intending to damage the image and credibility of the country.

The high court said the wisdom of the Indian voters should not be underestimated as they know who is leading and misleading them.

The petition referred to news items on news channels and social media platforms and said Gandhi, Kejriwal and Yadav made a misleading and false statement regarding alleged waving of loans of Rs 16 crore of few industrialists by the central government.

The petitioner sought to direct the Centre to register a complaint and prosecute these three leaders for allegedly making false and misleading statements and to direct several social media platforms and the political parties to which these leaders belong to remove these statements from their electronic and social media platforms.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet P S Arora said the people who are aggrieved will take action and will file petitions. The petitioner should not underestimate the Indian voters as they know who is leading and misleading them and will take their call, it said.

“If the industrialists are aggrieved or the politicians are aggrieved, they will take action. Don’t underestimate the mind of the voter. They are very very smart. They know who is speaking the truth and who is not. Don’t involve us in this. Don’t underestimate the wisdom of Indian voters,” the bench said.

The high court said it was of the view that the industrialists and the individuals who are alleged to have been defamed have the means and wherewithal to approach the court and file appropriate proceedings.

“This court is also of the view that the principle of relaxation of locus standi is not called for in this petition. The petitioner underestimates the wisdom of the Indian voters. Accordingly, this court is of the view that no orders are called in the writ petition and the same is closed,” it said.

Petitioner Surjit Singh Yadav, who claimed to be a farmer and a social activist, said the statements by the opposition politicians have created a negative image of India and degraded the credibility of the country and the central government.

He said now that the model code of conduct is in force, these leaders should not make such statements.

“It is well known that as per Reserve Bank of India (RBI), write off is not same as waive off but writing off loans has been shown by respondent no. 3 to 9 (Gandhi, Yadav, Kejriwal, their political parties and news outlets) as waiving off loans. This deliberate twist to the actual meaning of writing off loans by these respondents had created confusion in the minds of readers/ viewers including in the mind of the petitioner, thereby, resulting in the image of the central government getting downgraded,” the plea said.

The petitioner said after hearing and going though these news items he started developing a loss of trust in the central government.

“The factually wrong statements made by such political personalities cast an indelible negative impression in the minds of the readers/ viewers across the country, including in the mind of the petitioner,” the plea said.