NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has ordered an FIR against multiple political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, MP Manoj Tiwari, Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma, former MP Ramesh Bidhuri, Nitika Sharma, and former CM Arvind Kejriwal, over alleged illegal hoardings on public property.
The court took cognisance of complaint number DD No. 22B, dated 15 November 2019, directing the police to file an FIR and take action. However, the media selectively omitted the names of all BJP leaders, falsely portraying the order as solely against Arvind Kejriwal.
Addressing the media alongside AAP’s chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar, Sanjay Singh expressed disappointment over the media’s biased coverage of the case. He called them out for selectively targeting the AAP.while failing to present the full facts of the case.
Senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh began by addressing the media with a complaint. “I have deep pain and resentment today as I speak to the country’s top journalists, leading TV channels, and major newspapers. You are free to report any news against us, but it should not appear as though AAP is being deliberately targeted. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happened yesterday.
The AAP Rajya Sabha MP stated, “Every TV channel ran headlines stating, ‘FIR to be registered against Arvind Kejriwal.’ When I arrived at Parliament, cameras were immediately pointed at me, asking about this FIR, of which I had no prior knowledge. This morning, newspapers further amplified the issue, claiming that an FIR against Arvind Kejriwal had been ordered for putting up illegal hoardings. Some English newspapers went even further, stating, ‘Delhi court orders FIR against Kejriwal for misusing public funds’.”
The AAP MP questioned the credibility of these reports, emphasizing that the media failed to verify the actual court order and the details of the complaint. “You reported extensively, but did you bother to check what the actual order says? Did you read the complaint? Did you even check who filed it? The complainant is Mr. Shiv Kumar, who said that illegal hoardings were placed in multiple locations, including public properties.”
Sanjay Singh shared, “He approached the Dwarka police station to file a complaint, but no FIR was registered. He then moved court, which did not entertain his plea either. Eventually, he escalated the matter under Section 200, prompting a lower court to direct the police to register an FIR. This is the entire sequence of events. Yet, the media didn’t even read Shiv Kumar’s complaint before flashing sensational headlines.”
Sanjay Singh further pointed out that the complainant did not just name Arvind Kejriwal but also listed top BJP leaders. “The complainant, Shiv Kumar Saxena, has also named PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda, BJP MP Manoj Tiwari and Minister Parvesh Verma, former BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, other BJP leaders and AAP MLA Gulab Singh. Yet, media reports only focused on Arvind Kejriwal, completely omitting the fact that names of BJP leaders were also there in the complaint.”
Calling out the media’s selective coverage, Sanjay Singh praised the judge who passed the order. “This judge deserves a grand public felicitation for showing such courage. But where is media outrage over the names of these top BJP leaders being in the same complaint? Why is the media’s focus only on Arvind Kejriwal? This is not fair.”
Sanjay Singh criticised the selective targeting of AAP leaders in the FIR, highlighting that names like Arvind Kejriwal, and Gulab Singh were included in the media’s coverage, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP National President JP Nadda, and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were not.
He stated, “Why doesn’t the media run breaking news that a court has ordered an FIR against the Prime Minister, the Home Minister, and the BJP President? Why are they only showing Arvind Kejriwal and AAP? AAP urges the media to refrain from broadcasting one-sided reports without thoroughly verifying the facts.”
Sanjay Singh questioned whether the media does not find it significant that an FIR has been ordered against the Prime Minister. “The court, under Section 156(3) CrPC, has directed the SHO of the concerned police station to immediately register the FIR,” he stated.
“The complaint, filed on 15 November 2019, named Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and others. On Tuesday, the court took cognisance of DD No. 22B from 15 November 2019 and ordered FIRs against all those named. “It is unfortunate,” the AAP MP added, “that the media chose to highlight only Arvind Kejriwal’s name while completely ignoring the others.”
