New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL), sought directions to Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Election Commission of India (ECI) to register a complaint and investigate and prosecute the political leaders Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav for allegedly making misleading and false statements which were made with the intent to damage the image and credibility of Republic of India.
While dismissing the plea, the bench of Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said Don't underestimate the wisdom of the voter.
"They know who is speaking the truth and who is not sailing the truth. Don't involve us in this political thicket. Someone will lead and someone will mislead. Let them take a call. If they are aggrieved, they will file their petition. They know how to approach the court," the court observed.
The plea also sought direction for the removal of allegedly false and misleading statements, made by said leaders from electronic and social media platforms.
The plea moved by one Surjit Singh Yadav through counsels Shashi Ranjan Kumar Singh and Mahesh Kumar alleged that the factually wrong statements made by leaders had cast an indelible negative impression in the minds of readers/ viewers across the country including in the mind of the petitioner which had not only created a negative image of the Central Government in the Minds of the people but this also made the Petitioner a victim of this concocted confusion and influenced the vote pattern of the petitioner.
It further stated that this deliberate attempt to create a negative image of the Central Government has resulted in creating a negative image of the nation itself.
This can have negative repercussions for the nation like foreign investment getting affected, tourism getting hampered and promotion of anarchy in the nation.
