Remarks on PM's degree: Kejriwal faces defamation trial in Gujarat as SC upholds summons

New Delhi: Former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal is facing criminal proceedings in a defamation case over his alleged remarks over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational qualification after the Supreme Court on Monday dismissed his plea to quash summons.

A Gujarat Metropolitan court had summoned Kejriwal and AAP's Sanjay Singh in the defamation case over their alleged "sarcastic" and "derogatory" statements related to PM Modi's educational degrees.

Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel had filed the defamation case against the politicians over their alleged comments after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the chief information commissioner (CIC) for providing information about Modi's degrees under the Right to Information Act.

A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti noted that a separate bench of the apex court had junked the plea filed by AAP leader Sanjay Singh on April 8 in the same case, who is a co-accused in the case.

"We must have a consistent approach. Having regard to that view, we would not like to entertain the present plea. The same is dismissed," said the bench.

The top court, however, said all contentions were left open to be decided in the trial and it was expressing no opinion on the merits of the case. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, submitted Patel was not an aggrieved party in the matter.

"If at all the statement was defamatory, it is for Modi to file a criminal defamation case and not for the Gujarat University registrar," he said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the University, said a separate bench of the apex court had already dismissed Singh's petition on April 8.

Mehta said the degree had been uploaded on the university website and referred to the dismissal of the CIC order by the Gujarat High Court.

Arguing that no case of defamation was made out, Singhvi stated that Kejriwal merely asked why the university was not publishing Modi's degree.

The bench, however, rejected Kejriwal's plea.

The high court had on February 16 dismissed the pleas by Singh and Kejriwal seeking quashing of the summons issued against them in the defamation case.

Both had challenged in the high court the summons issued by a trial court in the case filed by the Gujarat University and the subsequent order of the sessions court dismissing their revision pleas against the summons.

According to the complainant, the two politicians made "defamatory" statements at press conferences and on microblogging platform X, targeting the university over Modi's degrees.

Their comments against the Gujarat University were defamatory and hurt the prestige of the institution, which has established its name among the public, he alleged.

"Their statements were sarcastic and intentionally made to hurt the prestige of the university," he added.

On March 31, 2023, the high court quashed the 2016 order of the CIC asking Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degrees to Kejriwal, and observed the AAP chief's RTI plea appeared to be "politically vexatious and motivated" instead of being based on "sound public interest considerations".