Case filed against Arvind Kejriwal over ‘poison in Yamuna water’ remark: Haryana minister Vipul Goel

An executive engineer of Haryana Water Services, Ashish Kaushik has filed a complaint against Kejriwal for the alleged offences under Section 54 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and Section 353 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 356 (defamation) of BNS.

The revenue and disaster management minister said the water supplied to Delhi is the same water consumed by the President, prime minister and Union ministers. He accused Kejriwal of spreading fear among the people of not only Delhi but also Haryana with his false claims.

Section 2 (D) of the Act defines a disaster, while section 54 deals with the punishment for creating a false alarm or warning about a disaster. “Whoever makes or circulates a false alarm or warning as to disaster or its severity or magnitude, leading to panic, shall on conviction, be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to one year or with fine,” section 54 of the Act states.

Goel also urged the Election Commission to take strict cognisance of such baseless claims as Delhi is set to go to the polls on February 5.

Goel criticised the Delhi government for its failure to clean the Yamuna river and said Kejriwal was making baseless allegations to save his image ahead of the Assembly elections. He said the people of Haryana consider the Yamuna sacred and that spreading false propaganda was both an insult to the neighbouring state and an attempt to mislead the people of Delhi.

Goel said that Kejriwal claimed to have stopped “poisonous water” from entering Delhi, but there was no evidence to support his assertion. He alleged that Kejriwal has an old habit of covering up his failures with false statements.

The minister further said that out of 37 sewage treatment plants in Delhi, only 17 were operational, reflecting the “inefficiency and negligence” of the Delhi government. This is affecting not only the people of Delhi but also those living in Haryana’s Faridabad, Palwal and Mewat districts, he alleged.

Earlier, Chief Minister Nayab Saini had said Kejriwal should seek an apology from the public of Haryana and Delhi or face a defamation suit. “Kejriwal has lost his mental balance seeing his possible defeat in the elections. He should seek an apology from the public of Delhi and Haryana immediately, or we will file a defamation suit against him. Kejriwal has insulted the land where he was born,” the BJP leader said.

Saini added, “Kejriwal said, ‘the engineers of Delhi Jal Board stopped the (Yamuna) water from coming to Delhi because they came to know that there is poison in the water.’ How did the engineers reach the conclusion that it has poison? Kejriwal should tell ‘which and how much poison was put into it’ and ‘if the water was poisonous, how many fish died?’ The people of Haryana consider the Yamuna a holy river and worship it. Why would they mix poison in its water?”

Saini said Kejriwal’s remark is part of the AAP’s political stunt aimed at influencing voters in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections and deflecting attention from the failures of its government. He added that the issue had been raised with the Election Commission.

Ensuring a reliable water supply to the national capital is a collective responsibility, which Haryana is fulfilling diligently and without any shortcomings, the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, acting on complaints filed by BJP and Congress leaders, the Election Commission on Tuesday asked Kejriwal to give evidence supporting his allegation against the Haryana government.

While the poll panel did not issue a notice to Kejriwal, it wrote to him saying that the “matter is being examined by the Commission in the light of provisions of MCC (model code of conduct) and relevant provisions of law”. It asked Kejriwal to provide a “factual and legal matrix along with evidentiary support” of his allegation by 8 pm on Wednesday.