Supreme Court stays proceedings in 2014 inflammatory speech case against Arvind Kejriwal

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the criminal proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a 2014 inflammatory speech case. (Arvind Kejriwal vs State of Uttar Pradesh and anr) .A bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna stayed proceedings against Kejriwal pending before an Uttar Pradesh trial court.The stay will remain in force until the next hearing date before the top court. "There will be a stay on proceedings till the next date of hearing. List after 5 weeks," the top court ordered.The Court also sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government in the matter.Kejriwal was represented by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.The Court was hearing an appeal filed by Kejriwal against an order passed by the Allahabad High Court on January 16 rejecting his plea for discharge in the case. .The Allahabad High Court had last month upheld an order of Sultanpur Sessions Court in this regard..The case against the Aam Aadmi Party chief was registered by a Flying Squad Magistrate under Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act, alleging that he had flouted the model code of conduct by stating,"Jo Congress ko vote dega, mera manana hoga, desh ke saath gaddari hogi. Bhajpa per katakch karte hue kaha ki jo Bhajpa ko vote dega use Khuda bhi muaf nahin karega, des ke sath gaddari hogi."His application for discharge was rejected by a Magistrate's Court in Sultanpur. The revision application was rejected by a Sessions Court which was upheld by the High Court.Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan of High Court observed that Kejriwal's statement threatened voters in the name of 'Khuda' knowing that the term will severely influence some set of voters belonging to different religion..During the hearing before the Supreme Court on Friday, the bench said that it is settled position of law that there can be no appeal for votes based on religion. Kejriwal's counsel argued that he had invoked any religion but had only used the word 'Khuda' (God)."Are you saying God cannot be related to a particular religion?" Justice Nagarathna asked.To this, Singhvi replied that Khuda cannot be attributed to God of Muslims alone as was the allegation in the present case. "Khuda is used for God not of a particular religion. (It was) not an appeal to Muslims," he said.For an offence to lie, the use of such a word must be followed by some vilification to show intent, Singhvi contended. "Here there is no elaboration or continuity," he added."Why would somebody holding the office of CM make such a statement ... We are intrigued. God will not forgive if you vote for BJP, saying this in a secular country! First of all, God does not need anyone's protection," Justice Joseph said.The appeal was filed through advocate Vivek Jain.[Follow our live-coverage of the hearing].[Read order]