The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal why he could not apologise to a constable for referring to the police as “thulla” – a Hindi slang for policemen – when he has been tendering apologies to others to have defamation cases against him quashed, PTI reported.
A constable with the Delhi Police, Anil Kumar Taneja, had filed a criminal defamation case against Kejriwal in July 2015 after the Aam Aadmi Party leader had called policemen “thulla” in an interview with a television channel.
In a plea challenging an earlier order of the Delhi High Court, which had stayed a trial court order summoning Kejriwal, the constable alleged that the chief minister had “crossed all limits of decency” by referring to policemen as “thulla”. Kejriwal had moved the High Court to have the defamation suit quashed.
On Monday, Kejriwal’s counsel told Justice Anu Malhotra that he will seek instructions from the chief minister on why he could not apologise in this case. The court scheduled the next hearing for May 29.
In July 2016, when the High Court had stayed the trial court order, it had asked Kejriwal to explain the meaning of “thulla”. Earlier, Kejriwal’s counsel had told the court that his client had not referred to all policemen as “thulla” but only officers who indulged in malpractices.
Kejriwal’s apology tour included sorries to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Congress leader Kapil Sibal and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
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