Hry court issues notice to Kejriwal

A Sonepat court on Wednesday issued notice to former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and fixed February 17 as the next date of hearing in the case, on a complaint filed by the Haryana government against the former Delhi chief minister over comments about Haryana supplying "poisoned" water through the Yamuna.

- HT Correspondent

NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH:

While issuing notice to Kejriwal, the chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Sonepat, directed the accused to appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing, if he had any contentions in the matter. "If he does not appear before this court on next date of hearing, it is deemed that he has nothing to say in the matter and further proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with law," the CJM said in the order.

The complaint against Kejriwal was filed by Ashish Kaushik, an executive engineer employed with the Water Services Division of Sonepat, on behalf of the Haryana State Disaster Management Authority. In the complaint, filed under the Disaster Management Act, the Haryana government accused Kejriwal making "wild and vile" allegations.

In the 26-page complaint to the court, the Haryana government sought Kejriwal's prosecution under Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita for alleged offences under Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act-2005 and sections 353 and 356 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

"Haryana government has filed the case under the Disaster Management Act before a court in Sonepat against former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal who had accused the state government of supplying 'poisoned' Yamuna water to the national capital," Vipul Goel, Haryana's revenue and disaster management minister, said.

Dubbing Kejriwal's statement "absurd and misleading", the Haryana minister said that the Election Commission of India should take strict cognisance of such baseless statements.