Summons against Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh in defamation case not dismissed by court
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Ahmedabad: Petitions filed by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh, an Aam Aadmi Party MP to have the summons issued against them in a criminal defamation case quashed was dismissed by a sessions court in Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat University filed a lawsuit against the politicians, claiming that they had made derogatory comments regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational background.
According to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Modi received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Delhi University in 1978 and his Master of Arts degree from Gujarat University in 1983. The degrees are allegedly fake, according to Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party, Scroll.in reported
After the state High Court in March overturned a 2016 order of the Chief Information Commissioner requesting the university to give the Delhi chief minister information about Modi's degrees under the Right To Information Act, Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel filed a complaint against Kejriwal and Singh.
In his complaint, Patel said that the Opposition leaders had made defamatory remarks against Modi at a press conference in April when they had questioned the Gujarat High Court's decision.
One of the statements that Kejriwal had made and that Patel cited in its complaint said, “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 and not disclosing the degree.”
The complaint further claimed that the comment was made in front of the media and broadcast on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the objective of harming Gujarat University's reputation.
A trial court in Gujarat summoned Kejriwal and Singh in July.
Notably, the Gujarat University had also objected to the Central Information Commission's ruling, claiming that a public official's educational background is not personal information and does not qualify for any exceptions to the Right to Information Act.
The university told the High Court that someone’s “irresponsible childish curiosity” cannot be deemed to be in the public interest under the Act.