The Supreme Court today dismissed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea seeking stay on trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. <br/><br/>A bench of Justices P C Ghose and U U Lalit said that under the Evidence Act, a judgement given in a civil proceeding is not binding on the criminal case.<br/><br/>Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Kejriwal, said that if the High Court pronounces judgement in the civil proceedings, then the subordinate court would have to follow the law in the case which is based on the same facts and circumstances. <br/><br/>He sought staying of the criminal defamation case filed by Jaitley against Kejriwal before the trial court and said that the civil proceedings before the High Court shall be continued.<br/><br/>The Delhi High Court had on October 19 dismissed Kejriwal's plea seeking stay of trial court proceedings in a<br/>criminal defamation case, saying, the criminal and civil defamation cases were different in nature. <br/><br/>Mr Jaitley has sought 10 crore rupees in damages from Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family in connection with alleged irregularities in DDCA when he was its president.

The Supreme Court today dismissed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea seeking stay on trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. A bench of Justices P C Ghose and U U Lalit said that under the Evidence Act, a judgement given in a civil proceeding is not binding on the criminal case.<br/><br/>Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Kejriwal, said that if the High Court pronounces judgement in the civil proceedings, then the subordinate court would have to follow the law in the case which is based on the same facts and circumstances. He sought staying of the criminal defamation case filed by Jaitley against Kejriwal before the trial court and said that the civil proceedings before the High Court shall be continued.<br/><br/>The Delhi High Court had on October 19 dismissed Kejriwal's plea seeking stay of trial court proceedings in a<br/>criminal defamation case, saying, the criminal and civil defamation cases were different in nature. Mr Jaitley has sought 10 crore rupees in damages from Kejriwal and the five AAP leaders for issuing allegedly false and defamatory statements against him and his family in connection with alleged irregularities in DDCA when he was its president.

The Supreme Court has dismissed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea seeking stay on trial court proceedings in criminal defamation case filed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. <br/><br/>Saying a judgement in civil proceedings is not binding on criminal case, the apex court refused to interfere with the Delhi High Court judgement in the case.