A court on Thursday directed BJP leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor, complainant in the defamation case against Delhi minister Atishi, to supply the video of the press conference, during which the alleged defamatory comments were made, to the AAP member by the next date of hearing.
“Supply copies of the video of the press conference of January 27, 2024, and April 2, 2024, and the copy of the pre-summoning evidence adduced by the complainant, and documents sought by the counsel of the accused, by the next date of hearing,” Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Tanya Bamniyal of the Rouse Avenue Court, said to Kapoor, the petitioner.
On July 23, Atishi was granted bail by ACJM Bamniyal.
The case stems from an April 2 press conference of the AAP legislator, in which she claimed that the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which reports to the central government, currently led by the BJP, would ‘arrest’ her and three party colleagues.
"I have been approached to join the BJP through a personal contact. I have been told that either I can join the BJP and save my political career or get arrested in the next one month. An individual very close to me told me that prime minister Narendra Modi has made up his mind to put every AAP leader in jail. Starting with Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, now they have arrested chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. But now they want to arrest another four top leaders -- me, Raghav Chadha, Durgesh Pathak and Saurabh Bharadwaj," she claimed.
{{/usCountry}}"I have been approached to join the BJP through a personal contact. I have been told that either I can join the BJP and save my political career or get arrested in the next one month. An individual very close to me told me that prime minister Narendra Modi has made up his mind to put every AAP leader in jail. Starting with Satyendar Jain, Manish Sisodia, Sanjay Singh, now they have arrested chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. But now they want to arrest another four top leaders -- me, Raghav Chadha, Durgesh Pathak and Saurabh Bharadwaj," she claimed.
{{/usCountry}}However, she did not reveal any specific information or take any name.
Days later, Kapoor, the media head of Delhi BJP, sent a legal notice to Atishi, asking her to withdraw her remarks immediately and issue an apology through television and social media.
(With inputs from ANI)