Bihar Court: Complaint lodged against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

A criminal complaint has been filed in a court in Hajipur of Bihar against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his controversial remark about people from Bihar visiting the national capital for free medical treatment. The complainant, Nitish Kumar, who is a social activist, filed his petition on Wednesday before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Prem Chandra Verma, who in turn referred the matter to the judicial magistrate for further hearing.

In his complaint, Kumar has alleged that he "felt hurt" by Kejriwal's remarks, his lawyer Surendra Kumar Bharti said. The plea sought a direction for initiating action against Kejriwal under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 153B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration).

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Earlier this month, advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha had also filed a petition in the matter before the Muzaffarpur civil court, seeking directions to the police to file an FIR against Kejriwal for his statement.

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Kejriwal rakes controversy

Speaking about Delhi Government's facilities providing free medical care to Delhiites, Arvind Kejriwal alleged the "people from outside" are coming and availing free benefits meant for the citizens of the national capital. Giving momentum to his remarks, Arvind Kejriwal stated that the government carried out a survey of a hospital on the Delhi border, which revealed that 80 percent of the patients were from outside the national capital. 

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He added that a man hailing from Bihar can get medical treatment worth Rs. 5 lakh in a few hundred. However, the Delhi CM asserted that while he is happy people from across the country are coming to get medical treatment in Delhi, he added that Delhi has its own capacity. 

"A big reason for long queues at the hospitals because the medical facilities Delhi has, is it nowhere else. Medicines are free. A man from Bihar buys a 500 rupees ticket and gets an operation worth Rs. 5 lakh done for free. When I see this, I feel happy that these are our people and they are getting good treatment but Delhi has its own capacity. How will Delhi treat people of the entire country? So, there is a need for improving the healthcare facilities across the nation," the Delhi CM added. 

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(With agency inputs)