Modi’s degree: Court summons for Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh in criminal defamation case
An Ahmedabad magistrate court Saturday issued a summons to Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal and the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in a criminal defamation complaint over their statements about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree case. Both leaders have been asked to appear on May 23 after the court has prima facie found a valid case of defamation in the leaders’ statements.
After disposing of a criminal inquiry for defamation moved by Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel, the court of additional magistrate Jayeshbhai Limbabhai Patel has initiated a criminal case against the AAP leaders. It said Kejriwal will be considered an “accused in his personal capacity” and not as Delhi CM in the case.
“If the PM studied from Delhi University and Gujarat University, then Gujarat University should celebrate that their alumnus has become the Prime Minister and yet they are trying to hide… Degree is not being shown because maybe the degree is fake, forfeited… If the degree is there and it is real, then why is it not being given?” are some of the statements of Kejriwal that Patel has alleged were defamatory.
In the case of Singh, Patel has alleged defamation for his statement “(the) Prime Minister is putting his all to prove a fake degree as right”. The complaint stated that the statement intended to damage the reputation of the varsity, despite knowing that such utterances would be defamatory.
In the criminal complaint, the registrar alleged that the two AAP leaders made the statements after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) that had directed the varsity to “search for information” regarding PM Modi’s degrees. The HC had also slapped a penalty of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal in its March 31 order.
According to Patel, Kejriwal made the “defamatory utterances” at a press conference on April 1 and Singh at another press conference on April 2.
Relying on an SC judgement that holds that a “complaint filed by an individual member of the collection of the person who is defamed as maintainable”, Patel argued that such statements do not qualify as affairs of the state.
After recording evidence by four witnesses and analysing electronic records, the court noted, “A normal person can conclude that it is being implied that Gujarat University issues fake and bogus degrees and is associated with fraud activity… This is the prima facie reasoning that can be concluded,”
The court observed, “…prima facie, targeting Gujarat University, sarcastically, which is an institute established under constitutional provisions… it is obvious that it will taint the university’s image in people’s mind”.
It added that “political figures, instead of serving their people, harbour animosity against each other, work directly or indirectly to personally harm the opponent and break the trust of their constituents.”
