A Delhi court on Saturday rejected a criminal defamation case filed by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj. .Verma had sued Bharadwaj over his social media posts allegedly insinuating that Singh used his influence in favour of officials of a school where a three-year-old girl was raped. .Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Neha Mittal of the Rouse Avenue Courts today refused to take cognisance of the case. The Court said that the imputations made by Bharadwaj were in the nature of asking questions and did not amount to defamation. Therefore, the judge refused to take cognisance of the case. "Cognisance has been declined," Judge Mittal said.A detailed order is awaited. .Notably, Verma has also filed a civil defamation case of ₹5 crore against Bharadwaj in the Delhi High Court. That case is pending. .It was Verma's case that Bharadwaj posted “false, malicious and highly defamatory” tweets and videos on May 15 and May 16 from his X handle. The posts alleged that Singh misused his position as a minister to appoint his alleged associate as a trustee in a private school trust worth nearly ₹500 crores and that the said trust belongs to Singh. According to Verma, Bharadwaj also insinuated that he (Verma) exercised his influence in favour of the employees of the school run by the said trust, who are the accused persons in the POCSO case. He further argued that Bharadwaj made insinuations of corruption, nepotism and file suppression against him, lowering his reputation in the eyes of the public.
