A metropolitan court in Ahmedabad on Saturday issued summons to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his party's MP Sanjay Singh in a criminal defamation case filed by Gujarat University (GU) over their statements on prime minister Narendra Modi's degree.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Jayesh Chovatiya ordered registration of a criminal complaint against the AAP leaders after verifying the complaint. Issuing process to Kejriwal and Singh, the court ordered them to be present on May 23. The order states that the complaint has been filed against Kejriwal in his individual capacity and not as the chief minister.
The criminal defamation case was filed by Gujarat University through its registrar Piyush Patel on April 12. The court ordered an inquiry into the complaint under section 202 of code of criminal procedure (CrPC). GU filed the case after Kerjiwal and Singh held press conferences on April 1 and 2 following an order passed by Gujarat high court on a petition seeking PM Modi's degree.
On March 31, Gujarat high court had quashed chief information commission's order directing the varsity to provide post graduate degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi under Right to Information Act (RTI) to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal. According to lawyer Amit Nair, who represents GU, Kejriwal held a press conference on April 1 and Singh on April 2 where they used languages which are "defamatory".
"There is enough prima facie material to show that the goodwill image of GU has been tarnished (in the press conferences) and more so through their Twitter accounts where they also posted videos. Their remarks hurt the sentiments of GU. When educational documents are on the portal since long ago still they question it and pass defamatory comments," Nair told DH.
"A few degrees here and there....if the degree is there and it is genuine, then why is the degree not being given? Why Gujarat University and Delhi University are not providing the degrees? Why are you not giving information?... The degree is not being given because the degree may be fake. If the Prime Minister studied from Delhi University and Gujarat University, then Gujarat University should celebrate the fact that he is our boy who became the Prime Minister of the country. But the varsity is trying to hide the degree," are some of the remarks Kejriwal is reported to have said in his press conference. These few lines are mentioned as defamatory in summons order.
After the Gujarat high court order on March 31 which not only quashed Kejriwal's plea for Modi's degree, the court also imposed a cost of Rs25,000 on Delhi CM.