Senior Advocate Ram Jethmalani, who recently quit as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s counsel in the civil and criminal defamation cases filed by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said the CM has “used worse abuses than a mere crook” for Jaitley.
In his blog, Jethmalani put up a letter addressed to Kejriwal:
When Arun Jaitlet filed the 1st suit and the criminal case, you naturally sought my services. Ask your conscience how many times you used worse abuses than a mere “crook”. You have hundred times asked me to teach this crook a lesson.
In May, Jaitley and Jethmalani had a heated exchange in the court hearing, with the minister objecting to the use of the word “crook” against him by the noted lawyer representing the chief minister.
“I will aggravate the charges against the defendants (Kejriwal)... There is a limit to personal malice,” Jaitley had said.
Asked to clarify the source of the word "crook", Jethmalani said the word has been used by him on instruction from his client (Kejriwal).
In response to Jethmalani’s words Kejriwal told the court, “...No instructions to use objectionable words were ever given by him at any point of time to the learned senior counsel,” as reported by The Indian Express.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday warned Arvind Kejriwal against asking any "offensive and scandalous" questions to Arun Jaitley in the defamation cases by the Union Finance Minister and imposed Rs 10,000 as a fine for not filing a reply in one of them.
After quitting, Jethmalani also asked the Delhi chief minister to settle his fees amounting to more than Rs 2 crore.
In December 2016, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had asked the finance department of Delhi government to release the appearance fee of Rs 3 crore to Jethmalani, as the defamation case is related to the ‘inquiry initiated by the state government against the alleged corruption in Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA)’.
But when law department sent the matter to Delhi L-G Ani Baijal for approval, Jethmalani had said that he would be happy to appear for Kejriwal free of cost if he could not afford to pay.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)