Jethmalani quits, Kejriwal assures Delhi HC “No Further Controversy in Jaitley Defamation Case” [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court today took assurance from the counsel for Arvind Kejriwal that scandalous and insulting questions will not be posed to Arun Jaitley during his cross examination in the ongoing civil defamation case..A battery of lawyers appeared for Kejriwal to clear up the mess created by Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani, who had called Jaitley a crook in court..It is to be noted that Jethmalani recently quit as the arguing counsel for Kejriwal after they had a falling out over the objectionable remarks used by him. Jethmalani has said that Kejriwal asked him to use even more offensive language during private discussions, reported TOI..The bone of contention in today’s hearing was whether Jethmalani was under the instructions of the Delhi Chief Minister while making objectionable remarks against Jaitley..The Finance Minister had moved an application stating that he was subjected to blatant abuse in the previous sessions of evidence recording and prayed that the cross examination be conducted in a fair and dignified manner. Kejriwal, in turn, had filed a reply stating that the objectionable remarks were not made under his instructions..Appearing for Jaitley, Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayyar stated that every time there is a session of recording of evidence, the plaintiff gets insulted..“The Senior Counsel appearing for the defendant insults the plaintiff and afterwards the defendant says that he gave no such instructions to the counsel. The plaintiff is called a crook in open court without any basis and there is nothing that he can do. Are we so helpless? What kind of a trial is this?”.Jethmalani had on record, reiterated that he had the consent of his client while making the remarks under question..Appearing for Kejriwal, Senior Advocate Anoop George Choudhari submitted that his client had never given any instructions to Jethmalani to use objectionable language. He further submitted that the briefing counsel had put it on record that such instructions were not given..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Manmohan observed that a new trend is gaining momentum wherein the previously engaged counsel is blamed for all that goes wrong during the trial. He said,.“Everyone is entitled to his day in court but you cannot ask such questions which are ex-facie scandalous. You have to be very careful because you will have to reap what you sow. When this happens with your client, I will not be able to do anything. I do not want to scuttle you but the proceedings must be conducted in a dignified manner.” .The counsel for the defendants suggested that the objectionable remarks be expunged from the record. However, Nayyar opposed this suggestion vehemently. An agitated Nayyar said,.“The damage is already done, it is all over the internet. If you expunge these remarks now, it will affect our second suit for defamation. This is their game.”.Justice Manmohan initially asked the defendants’ lawyers to give the court an undertaking that irrelevant and scandalous questions will not be posed to the plaintiff. However, the lawyers suggested that an oral assurance be taken from them, because a full-fledged undertaking would hamper their strategy during the cross-examination..Nayyar retorted by saying that an undertaking must be given by the counsel, as empty assurances are of no use..“The defendants would disown the statements made by the counsels as they did with Jethmalani.” .The judge categorically stated that taking an assurance would not mean that he will not hold them accountable in case of any controversy..“If there is any violation of the assurance statement, I will haul you. We cannot tolerate any abuse in court. If we cannot stop such senior people from vitiating the decorum, then other litigants would cite the example of this case while making objectionable remarks.”.Nayyar proposed that the recording of evidence be done before a judge and not before the Registrar of the High Court. However, the opposition countered this by saying that evidence is recorded before the Registrar in almost all the courts in the country..Justice Manmohan stated that he is giving the defendants one more opportunity. He also threatened to transfer the matter to a judge should there be even an iota of scandal. He also told Nayyar that a Registrar would move at a much faster pace as compared to a judge..Nayyar then insisted that the Court should order Jethmalani to file an affidavit clarifying whether he was under the instructions of Kejriwal or not..Justice Manmohan said that he is not willing to adjudicate this issue of whether the remarks were made under the instructions of the defendants or not. He also stated that this issue would be dealt with in the second suit for defamation..Finally, Justice Manmohan recorded in his order that the remarks made against Jaitley were in fact scandalous and that future cross-examinations must be conducted in a dignified manner..The cross-examination will resume on August 28..Image courtesy:.Arun Jaitley.Arvind Kejriwal.Ram Jethmalani.Read Order: