NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging a Gujarat High Court order that refused to quash summons in a criminal defamation case filed by Gujarat University. The case relates to Kejriwal’s remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualification.
A bench comprising Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti stated that the court was not inclined to interfere with the matter, especially since a similar plea by co-accused AAP leader Sanjay Singh was dismissed on April 8, 2024.
Arvind Kejriwal’s counsel argued that the defamation case lacked merit, claiming that the complaint was filed by the Gujarat University registrar, who was not directly mentioned in Kejriwal’s remarks. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta countered that Kejriwal was in the “habit of making defamatory and reckless statements and then saying sorry”
The court clarified that although Kejriwal’s legal team made references to relevant legal provisions, the dismissal of Sanjay Singh’s plea earlier influenced the decision to reject Kejriwal’s petition as well.
“We must have a consistent approach,” the bench noted, further stating that they were not commenting on the merits of the case, only choosing not to entertain the plea.
ABOUT THE CASE
A defamation case was filed by Gujarat University registrar Piyush Patel against Kejriwal and Singh after the AAP leaders made “defamatory” and “sarcastic” statements at press conferences and on social media targeting the university over PM Modi’s degrees.
The AAP leaders had allegedly made the comments after the Gujarat High Court had set aside an order of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) that called for providing information about Modi’s educational degrees to them under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
After the High Court’s order in the RTI case, Gujarat University filed a defamation case against the two AAP leaders.
Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh had approached the Gujarat High court, seeking quashing of the defamation proceedings in a trial court. The Gujarat High Court had declined the plea, following which the two AAP leaders approached the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Gujarat High Court’s decision and dismissed Kejriwal’s request for relief from the defamation proceedings.