Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh faced a setback on Friday as the Gujarat High Court declined to provide a temporary halt to the proceedings initiated against them over allegations of defaming Gujarat University in relation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree [Arvind Kejriwal v. Piyush Patel].
Justice Samir Dave stated,
“No grounds for interim relief have been established.”
This decision was made after a brief presentation by Senior Advocate Mihir Joshi, who represented Kejriwal.
Joshi argued that his client, as a Constitutional functionary, should not be compelled to appear in person before the magistrate court for a “summons case.”
He contended that the sessions court, which is handling his revision application against the summons order from the magistrate court, should address the revision application before further proceedings proceed in the magistrate court.
On the opposing side, Senior Advocate and Public Prosecutor Mithesh Amin emphasized that the magistrate court had twice granted exemption from personal appearance to Kejriwal and Singh.
“On July 26, they gave an assurance to the court to appear on August 11. Today is August 11. They haven’t honored their own commitment. Commitments made to a court must be honored,” Amin underscored.
Consequently, Justice Dave inquired whether Joshi’s client is willing to appear before the magistrate court, considering the prior commitment made.
Joshi, however, argued that the commitment was that they (Singh and Kejriwal) would appear through their legal representatives and even the plea would be recorded through advocates.
Taking this into account, the judge declined to grant interim relief.
A magistrate had previously issued summons to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders, instructing their presence on August 11. They contested this order before the sessions court, which on August 5, refused to provide an interim stay on the proceedings. This prompted them to seek relief from the Gujarat High Court.
Gujarat University had filed a lawsuit against the two politicians, alleging derogatory statements against it for not disclosing Prime Minister Modi’s degree.
In an order dated April 17 of this year, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Jayeshbhai Chovatiya deemed Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh’s statements prima facie defamatory.
The judge made this decision after considering oral and digital evidence presented on a pen drive, which included Kejriwal’s tweets and speeches made following a Gujarat High Court judgment on the matter.
In that High Court verdict, Justice Biren Vaishnav upheld an appeal by the University and ruled that it was not obligated to reveal Prime Minister Modi’s degree. The High Court also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on Kejriwal.
Considering these facts, the magistrate concluded that the accused politicians, as educated political office bearers, were aware of the impact of their statements on the public.
The ACMM court added that if political office bearers act out of personal enmity or selfishness instead of fulfilling their duty to the public, it is considered a breach of the people’s trust.
Notably, the university objected to the following statements made by Kejriwal after the Gujarat High Court judgment:
“Degrees are here and there. If there’s a degree and it’s genuine, then why not provide the degree? Why aren’t Gujarat University and Delhi University disclosing information about the degree? Perhaps they are not doing so because the degree might be fake. If the Prime Minister has studied at Delhi or Gujarat University, then Gujarat University should celebrate that our boy has become the Prime Minister of the country. Instead, they are trying to hide his degree.