The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convener Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging the Gujarat High Court order refusing to quash his summons by the trial court in a criminal defamation case initiated by the Gujarat University over his comments in connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree.
Referring to an earlier rejection of the AAP leader Sanjay Singh’s plea by the top court in the same matter, a bench comprising Justice Hrishikesh Roy and Justice S V N Bhatti, while refusing to entertain Kejriwal’s plea, said, “We must have a consistent approach.”
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, told the bench that there was no statement made against the University and hence, it could not have filed any defamation complaint. Seeking disclosure of the degree of persons in public life cannot lead to a defamation action, he added.
Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh over their alleged comments after the Gujarat High Court had set aside an order of the Chief Information Commissioner for providing information about Prime Minister Modi’s degrees to them under the RTI Act.
Earlier this year, the high court had declined to quash the summons issued to Kejriwal in the defamation case.
A Gujarat Metropolitan court had summoned Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh in a defamation case over their “sarcastic and derogatory” statements relating to Modi’s degree.
Later, they filed a revision application in the Sessions court challenging the Metropolitan court’s summons in the case. However, the sessions court had declined their plea for an interim stay on trial court proceedings, after which they approached the Gujarat High Court.
The Gujarat University had said that the AAP leaders’ comments targeting the University were defamatory and hurt its prestige which has established its name among the public.