Last Updated:
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Goyal issued the notice to the former Delhi chief minister on a complaint filed by an executive engineer of the Rai Water Services Division, Sonipat
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal (PTI Image)
A court in Haryana’s Sonipat on Wednesday issued a notice to AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal over his claim that the BJP-ruled state was mixing “poison in the Yamuna” river, and asked him to appear on February 17.
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Goyal issued the notice to the former Delhi chief minister on a complaint filed by an executive engineer of the Rai Water Services Division, Sonipat.
“He is directed to appear in-person before this court on the next date of hearing, if he has to say anything in the matter. If he does not appear before this court on next date of hearing, it is deemed that he has nothing to say in the matter and further proceedings shall be conducted in accordance with law,” said the court, asking Kejriwal to appear on February 17.
Earlier in the day, Haryana’s Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Vipul Goel said the state government will file a case against Kejriwal over his remark.
“Kejriwal has made an irresponsible statement spreading panic among the people of Delhi and Haryana. The Haryana government is going to get a case registered against him before CJM Court in Sonipat under the Disaster Management Act,” he told reporters. The complaint was registered under Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Section 223, Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Section 353 and 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Under the provisions laid down under Section 223 of BNSS, an opportunity of being heard is to be given to the accused before taking cognisance of offence by the magistrate.
Kejriwal had alleged on Monday that the “BJP people in Haryana are mixing poison in the water and sending it to Delhi” so that they can blame the AAP if people die and take political benefit. “Can anything be more disgusting than this?” “The poison that is being mixed in the water cannot even be cleaned in water treatment plants. For the safety of the people of Delhi, the water supply has to be stopped in many areas,” Kejriwal had said.
Top BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haryana ministers criticised Kejriwal for his remarks, which came in the midst of the ongoing election season in Delhi.
Haryana Revenue Minister Goel accused Kejriwal of speaking “big lies”.
“What kind of water we give them (to Delhi), all our officers have checked the water being supplied. Kejriwal has done cheap politics by making such allegations on Haryana, prompting the state government to take legal action,” he said.
He accused Kejriwal of spreading fear not only among the people of Delhi but also the people of Haryana with his “false claims”.
He also accused the AAP dispensation in Delhi of completely failing to clean the Yamuna river.
Kejriwal is making baseless allegations against Haryana “just to save his political image before the (Delhi) elections”, Goel said.
He said the people of Haryana consider the Yamuna sacred, and spreading false propaganda is both an insult to Haryana and an attempt to mislead the people of Delhi.
He claimed that Kejriwal has an old habit of covering up his failures by making false statements.
After Kejriwal made the allegations, the Aam Aadmi Party doubled down on it.
On Monday, it accused the BJP government in Haryana of intentionally draining industrial waste into the Yamuna.
Delhi Chief Minister Atishi had also alleged that the BJP is “deliberately disrupting” Delhi’s water supply as a “historic loss” awaits the saffron party in the February 5 assembly polls in the national capital.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
- Location :
Chandigarh, India, India
