Gujarat HC refuses interim stay to Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh on PM Modi's degree defamation case

In a major blow for Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh, the Gujarat High Court refused to stay the criminal defamation proceedings initiated over their "sarcastic" and "derogatory" comments in regard to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's academic degree.

Ahmedabad:The Gujarat High Court on Friday refused to grant an interim stay to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leader Sanjay Singh in connection with the criminal defamation proceedings filed by the Gujarat University. Both the leaders had allegedly made "sarcastic" and "derogatory" comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's academic degree.

Gujarat University had filed a defamation case against the two leaders for their comments on Modi's degree. The university registrar Piyush Patel had moved the high court against Kejriwal's derogatory comments at a press conference on April 1 and Singh's statements on April 2. Kejriwal and Singh had urged the court for a stay on the proceedings against them till the sessions court disposes the revision petition in this regard.

Earlier, a metropolitan court had summoned them on August 11 in the defamation case filed by the Gujarat University over their comments on Modi's degree. Challenging the summons, Kejriwal and Singh had filed a revision application in the sessions court seeking an interim relief. The sessions court had rejected their application on Saturday following which they moved the high court.

On March 31, 2023, the Gujarat High Court while giving its verdict on Modi's degree dispute case, held that the educational degrees of the PM are exempted from disclosure under provisions of section 8(1)(e) and (j) of the RTI Act. After which, Kejriwal made alleged derogatory statements at a press conference as well as on the Twitter. Next day, Singh held a press conference on the same issue and the contents were later posted on Twitter.

Kejriwal tweeted, "If there is a degree and it is genuine then why is it not being given?.....They are not giving degree because it might be fake.....If the PM studied at Delhi University and Gujarat University then Gujarat University should celebrate that its student became the country's PM". Singh had tweeted, "Gujarat University is trying to prove the PM's fake degree as genuine."