In Relief to LG Saxena, High Court Directs AAP To Delete 'Defamatory' Tweets

LG Saxena also sought damages and a compensation of Rs 2.5 crore along with interest from AAP and its five leaders.

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena sought a legal order against AAP and its leaders Atishi Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Jasmine Shah to take down their social media posts.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/LG Delhi)

On Tuesday, 27 September, the Delhi High Court restrained the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders from making "false" allegations against Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and his family, after they claimed that he was involved in a Rs 1,400 crore scam.

Justice Amit Bansal directed AAP to take down the allegedly defamatory tweets posted by Sanjay Singh, Atishi Singh, and Saurabh Bharadwaj.

"I have passed an ad-interim injunction order in favour of the plaintiff....," he said.

Saxena had sought a legal order against AAP and its leaders Atishi Singh, Durgesh Pathak, Sanjay Singh, Saurabh Bharadwaj, and Jasmine Shah to delete or take down the alleged false posts, tweets, or videos circulated on social media.

Additionally, he sought damages and a compensation of Rs 2.5 crore along with interest from AAP and its five leaders.

The leaders had alleged that Saxena was involved in a scam while he was the chairman of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC).

Allegations Made by AAP

During a special session of the Delhi Assembly on 29 August, AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak alleged, "In 2016, Saxena forced Khadi's cashiers to exchange his old unaccounted bank notes for him."

"When the whole country was suffering from cashlessness, lakhs lost jobs and several slept hungry, the then KVIC chairman Saxena committed a scam of Rs 1,400 crore in the name of Mahatma Gandhi."

AAP MLA Durgesh Pathak

Pathak said that two cashiers of Khadi had exposed the "scam" but Saxena "himself investigated" their allegations and suspended them.

Recently, on 2 September, AAP also alleged that Saxena misused his position and awarded a contract for designing the interior of a Khadi lounge in Mumbai to his daughter when he was the KVIC chairman. It had demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi "immediately" sack him.

Saxena, on 5 September, sent a legal notice to AAP and its leaders for accusing him of corruption and making 'defamatory allegations' against him.

(With inputs from PTI.)