The Supreme Court on Monday extended a stay on criminal defamation proceedings against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over re-tweeting an allegedly offensive video against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for two months after the complainant said he was open to considering a public apology.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta gave Kejriwal time to draft the apology. “If you want to give an apology, you can do so without affecting your rights and contentions. Or else if you want us to hear your appeal, we are ready to examine the legal issue of whether a re-tweet amounts to criminal defamation.”

The court said the matter will be taken up next in the week beginning May 13. “The interim order directing the trial court not to proceed with the matter will remain till the next date of hearing.”

Kejriwal moved the Supreme Court against a February 5 order of the Delhi high court refusing to quash the summons issued against him. A trial court issued the summons on a complaint of one Vikas Sankrityayan.

The high court said Kejriwal will face trial for re-tweeting a video of YouTuber Dhruv Rathee titled “BJP IT Cell Part II” in May 2018. It said as a public figure, his tweets have far-reaching ramifications.

On February 26, the Supreme Court asked the complainant to take instructions on a submission of Kejriwal’s lawyer, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who said it was a mistake to have re-tweeted the video. Singhvi said his client was willing to give an apology.

Advocate Raghav Awasthi, who appeared for the complainant, told the court that his client would seek a public apology from Kejriwal. Singhvi told the court that the complainant must explain why he initially withdrew the complaint and revived it after a year.

The bench told Singhvi it will not go into that aspect. “What you want to say in your apology we will tell it to the other side. If he agrees, it is fine. You can choose your words. Otherwise, if we find a case made out in your petition, we will stay the HC [high court] order or we will dismiss it.”

Kejriwal argued the complainant has not established how the re-tweet caused any legal injury under the Indian Penal Code’s Section 499 (defamation).

Singhvi earlier alleged the trial picked up pace due to the upcoming elections. He added the original tweet was deleted and thus the defamation proceedings based on the re-tweet could not be sustained.

Awasthi denied his client was pursuing the matter for any political purpose.