Ahmedabad: A court here has directed Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh to appear before it on July 13 in connection with a criminal defamation case over their “sarcastic” and “derogatory” statements with regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree.
The two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders were earlier summoned by a metropolitan court to appear before it on June 7. The case against the two has been filed by the Gujarat University (GU).
In the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jayesh Chovatiya, Kejriwal and Singh were represented by their lawyers who filed an application to exempt their clients from appearance and also sought documents related to the complaint.
“The lawyers for both the accused appeared in the court today and filed an application seeking court documents. The court provided them with the documents …They also filed an application for their exemption from appearance in the court for today,” lawyer for Gujarat University Amit Nair said.
While accepting their exemption application, the court pointed out a circular for speedy trial against MPs and MLAs and asked them when they can remain present. The respondents said they will remain present on July 13 for plea recording, he said.
Earlier, the court had summoned the two AAP leaders after observing that prima facie there appeared to be a case against them under section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel filed a defamation case against the two leaders over their comments after the Gujarat High Court set aside the Chief Information Commissioner’s order on PM Modi’s degree.
They made “defamatory” statements in press conferences and on Twitter targeting the university over Modi’s degree, the complainant said, adding that their comments against Gujarat University were defamatory and intended to hurt the reputation of the university.
