Arvind Kejriwal was arrested and sent to by a Delhi court after he refused to furnish bail bond in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari.
Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha ordered after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and former Delhi chief minister repeatedly refused to furnish a personal bail bond of Rs 10,000 and a surety of like amount.
“In these circumstances as the accused has refused to furnish bail bond or even personal bond without surety, this court is constrained to take the accused into custody. Let the accused be sent to judicial custody and be produced before the court on May 23”.
Kejriwal said he was ready to give an undertaking that he will appear before the court but refused to furnish bail bond to secure bail.
Court said “I agree he will appear in the court but the procedure is that a person has to file bail bond. Are you looking for some exceptional treatment?”
Kejriwal, who also argued in the court, told the judge that he has not committed any heinous crime and added that he was not looking for any exceptional treatment. “This is my principle that when I have not done anything wrong, I will not seek bail. I am ready to go to jail,” he said.
Advocates Prashant Bhushan and Rahul Mehra, who appeared for Kejriwal, told the magistrate that these cases are of political nature and as per the principle of AAP, they will not furnish bail bond.
Earlier BJP leader Nitin Gadkari filed a defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal, and said that Kejriwal has tarnished his image by calling him corrupt. The complaint said that on Jan 31 “Kejriwal has deliberately released the list of India’s most corrupt people mentioning his name in a grossly irresponsible manner”. Kejriwal “has deliberately tried to malign (Gadkari’s) image though he is not involved in any wrongful or corrupt act,” the complaint stated.
