Assam court issues bailable warrant against Arvind Kejriwal in PM Modi defamation case

A bailable warrant was issued against Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal by an Assam court on Tuesday, April 11. The move came after Kejriwal failed to appear in court for the hearing of a case in which he is accused of defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his educational qualifications. 

Kejriwal has also been put on trial by the Delhi High Court in a defamation case against Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and then hauled over coals for trying to use the taxpayers' money to foot the bill of this case — which he is fighting in an individual capacity. He has also been indicted by the Shunglu Committee, as a result of which the AAP has lost its party headquarters in New Delhi.

Bailable warrant

The latest blow for Kejriwal is this bailable warrant, issued against him by a court in Diphu in Assam on Tuesday, after he failed to appear in court earlier on January 30, 2017. 

Also read: Kejriwal says he will turn Delhi into London: Here are 5 hurdles in his way

The case pertains to a tweet by Kejriwal in December last year, in which he had questioned the higher education degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Assam BJP leader Surya Rongphar filed a case against Kejriwal claiming that the tweet was "baseless and misleading." 

This is the tweet: 

Effect on MCD polls

The elections to the three wings of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) are slated to take place on April 23, and the AAP has been working in full swing to capture power at the civic body level in Delhi. The warrant against Kejriwal may give the BJP — which currently rules the MCD — some more ammunition against him in the campaigning for the elections.