Delhi HC asks Arvind Kejriwal why he can't apologise to constable for referring to policemen as 'thulla'

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal why he cannot apologise to a constable for allegedly using the slang ’thulla’ for policemen, when he has been seeking pardon from others like Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Justice Anu Malhotra said, “If Kejriwal is apologising to others for his remarks, why can’t he do the same to the police officials and settle the matter?”

His counsel said he would seek instructions from the chief minister on this, following which the court listed the matter for further hearing on 29 May.

The court was hearing a plea by Kejriwal seeking quashing of a trial court order summoning him in a criminal defamation complaint filed by a constable.

During the past few weeks, Kejriwal has tendered apology to Jaitley, Bikram Majithia and others for his comments against them.

The court had earlier stayed the trial court order summoning Kejriwal in the defamation complaint filed by Delhi police constable Anil Kumar Taneja, who had sought dismissal of his petition seeking stay and quashing of the trial court order summoning him.

Opposing the Chief Minister’s plea, the constable in his reply, filed through advocate L N Rao, had alleged that Kejriwal had “crossed all limits of decency” by using the insulting word ’thulla’ for a policemen in an interview to a news channel.

Taneja, who had filed the criminal defamation complaint on 23 July, 2015, had claimed that by using the slang, Kejriwal “has intentionally insulted entire Delhi Police force and caused unnecessary provocation to the police personnel in Delhi”.

The high court in July last had asked Kejriwal to explain the meaning of word ’thulla’ he had allegedly used against the policemen while staying the trial court’s order.

The word used by Kejriwal is a Hindi word and the high court wanted to know its meaning as it does not exist in the dictionary.

Earlier, Kejriwal’s counsel had told the court that the word ’thulla’ was not used against all policemen but against those indulging in wrong practices.