Poll panel seeks FIR on ‘communal pamphlet’

Taking suo-moto cognisance of a pamphlet being circulated on WhatsApp groups allegedly issued by the minority wing of the Aam Aadmi Party seeking Muslim votes in Bawana, the Delhi chief electoral officer directed the police to register a case.

The issue boiled into a controversy with the Bharatiya Janata Party also filing a complaint with the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) even as AAP leaders cried foul and filed a counter complaint with the Delhi Police and the CEO office.

The AAP leaders said the party has not printed the controversial pamphlets and described it as an attempt to malign the party.

“It was brought to our notice that the alleged pamphlet was being distributed on WhatsApp groups. Prima facie the content showed that a probe was required. The district authorities have directed the police to register FIR and investigate about the source of those who got it printed,” Delhi CEO Chandra Bhushan Kumar said.

The officials said they later received complaints of the same pamphlet being distributed as handbills in the area and it was also sent to the police to include it in the investigation.

While Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari alleged that Arvind Kejriwal’s party was ‘exploiting religious sentiments for electoral gains’ through the alleged posters, Food and Supplies minister Imran Hussain, in whose name the message was allegedly issued, called it fake.

The AAP also filed a complaint with Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik and the returning officer in Bawana.

“Some miscreants (unknown) are deliberately circulating an objectionable and communal poster to malign the minority wing of the party… It is therefore requested that an FIR be immediately registered and this matter be investigated on urgent basis,” the party’s complaint to police read.

In its complaint to the returning officer, the party demanded removal of the alleged posters.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday retracted from his statement in a defamation suit filed by BJP leader Avtar Singh Bhadana, stating that he was misinformed by his former colleagues, which led him to make remarks against the latter.

In a submission made in a Delhi court, Bhadana said that since Kejriwal had retracted from his statement made earlier, he does not want to proceed further with the case and the same should be withdrawn.

The submission made by both the sides was accepted by additional district judge Surinder S Rathi, who disposed of the case accordingly.

The former Congress MP had filed the civil defamation suit against Kejriwal alleging that the AAP leader had tarnished his image by branding him as “corrupt”. Bhadana had contented in his petition that Kejriwal had publicly made the defamatory statement on January 31, 2014.

According to the application moved by Bhadana on Monday, Kejriwal admitted that he had made the statement on the basis of the advice given to him by some of his former colleagues and now that he found that he has been misinformed, he retracts from his statement and so Bhadana is withdrawing the suit.

It also added the chief minister has admitted he had no intention to defame the plaintiff (Bhadana) and malign his reputation.