AAP’s Police Case Over Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Drunk Constitution Writers’ Video

New Delhi:

A police case has been registered against some social media users for sharing a clipped video of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal.

An X user, Vibhor Anand, who is a Delhi-based lawyer and has more than 40,000 followers, and five unidentified people are among those who have been named in the First Information Report (FIR) in Punjab’s Ludhiana. The case was registered on the complaint of AAP leaders and supporters.

As many as five FIRs have been registered in Ludhiana and around 12 in Punjab. They have alleged that the clipped videos have tarnished Mr Kejriwal’s image and have hurt the sentiment of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) communities.

Mr Anand had shared a 9-second video of Mr Kejriwal, in which he was heard saying, “Someone was saying that whoever has written the Constitution must be drunk while writing it”. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Tiwari had also shared the same clip.

However, in a 19-second video released by AAP leaders, Mr Kejriwal was heard talking about the Constitution of the Congress party and not about the Indian Constitution.

“Constitution of Congress party says no worker shall consume liquor. Someone amongst us said the one who wrote the Constitution must have been drunk while writing it,” Mr Kejriwal said during his speech, which was reportedly delivered 12 years ago.

The case was registered under sections 192 (wantonly giving provocation with the intent to cause a riot), 336 (4) (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), and 353 (statement conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The controversy has erupted amid a massive row over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on BR Ambedkar – known as the architect of the Indian Constitution –  during the recently concluded Winter Session of parliament.

In his address to the Rajya Sabha during the debate to mark 75 years of the Constitution last week, Mr Shah said taking BR Ambedkar’s name had become a “fashion” now.

“It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar’. If they took God’s name so many times, they would have got a place in heaven,” the senior BJP leader said.

“Take his name 100 times more, but I want to say what are your sentiments about him,” he said.

The AAP, Congress and other Opposition parties have alleged that Mr Shah had insulted the Dalit icon and demanded his resignation and an apology.

Mr Shah, however, said the Opposition leaders had twisted his remarks.