Supreme Court dismisses Arvind Kejriwal's plea against Gujarat High Court order refusing to quash summons in criminal defamation case

The defamation case was filed against Kejriwal by the Gujarat University over his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's academic qualifications.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea by former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against summons issued against him in a criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University Registrar over his remarks about the academic degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti rejected his plea citing the case of AAP MP Sanjay Singh who was declined any relief in the case on April 8 by a separate bench.

Senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal sought to make a distinction between the statement made by Sanjay Singh and him but the bench said it had to follow the consistent approach.

He claimed the idea behind the defamation case was to disqualify him from public life for asking the degree of the chief executive.

He also questioned the validity of the complaint by the Gujarat University's registrar Piyush M Patel, saying if at all, the statement was defamatory, it was for Modi to be aggrieved with it. He contended the statement can't be defamatory for the University.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta referred to the Gujarat High Court's order which imposed a cost on him for filing RTI plea on Modi's degree which was already put on the University's website.

Singhvi sought to file a chart showing his statement was different from that of Sanjay Singh and expressing regret over it.

Mehta, however, opposed it, saying the petitioner is in the habit of making defamatory statement then expressing regret right from late Arun Jaitley case. He said the petitioner should have been more circumspect.

Kejriwal's counsel conceded after the bench told him if he argued on merits then the petitioner would not be allowed to withdraw the plea and a decision on merits would be rendered.

The Gujarat University has filed a criminal defamation case against AAP leaders’ for “sarcastic and derogatory” statements made on April 1 and 2, 2023 with regard to Modi’s degree, which “tarnished its goodwill and image.”

Gujarat University registrar Piyush Patel had filed the defamation case against Kejriwal and Singh over their comments after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Chief Information Commissioner on PM Modi's degree.

In the instant case, Kejriwal was aggrieved with the High Court's February 16 order refusing to quash summons issued against him.