AAP’s Atishi & Raghav Chadha Booked by Delhi Police for ‘Defaming’ BJP

The non-cognisable reports were lodged at the Cyber Police Station on the plaint of BJP IT cell head Abhishek Dubey.

Two non-cognisable reports (NCR) have been filed against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Atishi and Raghav Chadha in Delhi for allegedly defaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the police said on Wednesday, 4 May.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Two non-cognisable reports (NCR) have been filed against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Atishi and Raghav Chadha in Delhi for allegedly defaming the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the police said on Wednesday, 4 May.

The NCRs have been lodged at the Cyber Police Station in Delhi on the complaint of BJP IT cell head Abhishek Dubey on 30 April.

"AAP’s Kalkaji MLA Atishi and… Raghav Chadha referred to BJP workers as criminals, hooligans, and rapists during press conferences on April 15th and April 16th... Atishi and Raghav Chadha’s accusations and expletives against the world’s biggest party BJP and its workers are wrong," the complaint read.

A second NCR filed against Atishi, on 26 April, alleges that the AAP leader, during a televised interview, had shown the photograph of an accused in communal clashes and insinuated that he was associated with the BJP.

"In this interview, she showed a picture of the main accused in the communal clashes which broke out in Delhi's Jahangirpuri area during a Hanuman Jayanti procession – Mohd Raja Ansaar, who had evidently been morphed into the image of a BJP party event... The circulation of this morphed image by Ms Atishi was done with no other motive than merely to spread hatred towards the BJP."

Chadha and Atishi have been booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 500 IPC (defamation).

In non-cognisable offences, the police can neither register an FIR nor investigate or effect arrest without the express permission or directions from the court.