Delhi high court stays summons to Sunita Kejrwal for ‘being on 2 voter lists’

The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed the summons issued by a city court against Sunita Kejriwal, wife of Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, in connection with a case alleging she holds two voter ID cards.

“Issue notice. In the meanwhile, there shall be a stay on the impugned order till the next date of hearing,” a bench of justice Amit Bansal said on a petition by Sunita Kejriwal against a Tis Hazari court order. The high court will next take up the matter on February 1, 2024.

The summons were issued against her on August 29 on a complaint by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secretary Harish Khurana who alleged that Sunita Kejriwal violated the Representation of the People Act. since she was enrolled as a voter of two constituencies — Sahibabad, Uttar Pradesh and Chandini Chowk in Delhi.

Metropolitan magistrate Arjinder Kaur at the Tis Hazari courts issued the summons on August 29, noting that “this court is of the considered opinion that a prima facie case is made out against accused person namely, Sunita Kejriwal W/o Sh. Arvind Kejriwal for the alleged commission of the offences punishable under section 31 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950. Hence, the accused be summoned accordingly,”

The magistrate’s order cited Supreme Court judgments to emphasise that there was no need for the court to state explicit reasons in the order to summon the accused and that the magistrate was only required to focus on the prima facie allegations while passing the order.

Sunita Kejriwal approached the high court against the metropolitan magistrate’s decision that required her appearance on November 18, aguing that the court took the decision without application of mind. Kejriwal, appearing through senior advocate Rebecca John, submitted before the court that an offence under the Representation of Peoples Act was made out only in case of a person submitting a false affidavit and Khurana’s complaint did not place any material to establish that she made a false declaration.