The Delhi high court on Wednesday warned chief minister Arvind Kejriwal against asking “indecent” questions to Union minister Arun Jaitley during cross-examination in a defamation suit against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader.
Justice Manmohan said expressions used by Kejriwal’s former counsel Ram Jethmalani during the cross-examination, such as “crook”, were “indecent, scandalous and abusive” which lowered the decorum of the court room.
“You are using words such as crook. Does it fall in free speech? Are you aware that this is an unparliamentary word,” the judge said.
“No person can be subject to such indecent, offensive, scandalous, abusive questions in the garb of cross-examination,” the judge said, adding, “It’s uncalled for. This is not the way to conduct the cross-examination”.
“This court is of the view that liberty of free speech cannot be used to make unaccounted statements,” the judge said, warning Kejriwal that any further scandalous questions during the cross-examination will not be tolerated.
The judge said he will transfer the case from the joint registrar to a bench of the high court if he finds even an “iota” of indecent questions by Kejriwal’s counsel.
