PM Modi Degree Defamation Case| Ahmedabad Court Refuses Expeditious Hearing Of Revision Plea By Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh
A sessions court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad has REJECTED a plea moved by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (Arvind Kejriwal) and AAP RS MP Sanjay Singh to expedite the hearing in their revision plea against issuance of summons to them by a trial court in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Gujarat University.The duo had essentially sought an expedited hearing of their revision petition, aiming for it...
A sessions court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad has REJECTED a plea moved by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal (Arvind Kejriwal) and AAP RS MP Sanjay Singh to expedite the hearing in their revision plea against issuance of summons to them by a trial court in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Gujarat University.
The duo had essentially sought an expedited hearing of their revision petition, aiming for it to take place before August 29—a date on which the Gujarat High Court would be hearing their plea for a stay of trial and prompt revision petition hearing.
In Charge City Civil and Sessions Judge AV Hirpara noted that it would in the “interest of justice” that the criminal revision application by Kejriwal and Singh be heard by the regular sessions judge, who is currently on leave
"The Presiding Officer is currently on leave and both the parties to the revision petition wish to have a detailed hearing, it is considered reasonable and necessary in the interest of justice that the revision petition be heard before the regular Presiding Officer and therefore the petition of the petitioner-accused is not found reasonable to be allowed," the Court said.
Essentially, in their plea, Kejriwal and Singh mainly contended that to date this matter is pending for appearance and hearing and recording of evidence would start on August 31, 2023, however, the Guujarat High Court has issued a notice to the respondents on prayer seeking expeditious disposal of this revision petition and has given a next date of 29.08.2023. Hence, they sought an expeditious hearing of their revision plea.
The background of the matter
In the criminal complaint filed by Gujarat University, through its Registrar Dr Piyush M.Patel under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, the alleged statements of Kejriwal and Singh have been referred to, accusing them of making sarcastic and defamatory statements in press conferences and on Twitter handles targeting the university over Modi's degree.
The alleged statement is as follows:
"अगर डिग्री है और वो सही है तो डिग्री दी क्यों नहीं जा रही है...गुजरात और दिल्ली यूनिवर्सिटी डिग्री क्यों नहीं दे रही हैं? डिग्री इसलिए नहीं दे रहे हैं कि डिग्री हो सकता है फर्जी हो, डिग्री नकली हो...अगर प्रधानमंत्री जी दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालय से पढे, गुजरात यूनिवर्सिटी से पढे, तो गुजरात यूनिवर्सिटी को सेलीब्रेट करना चाहिए कि हमारा लड़का जो है देश का प्रधानमंत्री बन गया...वो उनकी डिग्री को छुपने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं...(यूनिवर्सिटी) प्रधानमंत्री की फर्जी डिग्री को सही साबित करने में जुट गई [If degree is there and it is correct then why degree is not being given... Why Gujarat and Delhi University are not giving degree? The degree is not being given because the degree may be fake... If the Prime Minister studied from Delhi University, Gujarat University, then Gujarat University should celebrate that our boy has become the Prime Minister of the country. ...it is trying to hide his degree...[Univerisity] put his all to prove a fake degree (of PM) as right]," is the statements that have been attributed to Kejriwal by the University in its complaint."
The complaint states that the alleged statement was made right after the Gujarat High Court order quashing and setting aside the 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Gujarat University to provide “information regarding degrees in the name of Mr. Narendra Damodar Modi" to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
The Complaint further states that immediately after the Gujarat High Court's order, Kejriwal made defamatory statements against Gujarat University in a press conference despite being aware of the fact that the Prime Minister's degree has been published on the University's website long back.
Importantly, the university has also put up a contention in its complaint that CM Kejriwal made the statements in his “personal capacity” and “not affairs of the State”.
In April this year, the additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jayeshbhai Chovatiya found that prima facie, both Kejriwal and Singh appeared to have targeted the Gujarat University as the words uttered by them were sarcastic and meant to target the Gujarat University's image in the minds of the people.
"It is natural that due to the statements of the accused people who know the credit of Gujarat University and all the people who do not know Gujarat University will develop distrust towards Gujarat University," the Court observed.
The Court also opined that if the political office bearers, instead of fulfilling their duty to their people, do any work directly or indirectly for their personal enmity or selfishness, to harm the opponents or the same person, and if they utter any such words, those words will be considered a violation of the trust placed by the people and the words uttered will be considered personal. It is in that order that the Court directed for their personal presence before the Court.
They moved the sessions court to challenge the summons in their reveiion plea (which is pending), however, when they were denied interim relief, they moved the High Court, however, the Gujarat High Court also refused to grant any interim relief to them seeking an interim stay on proceedings in a criminal defamation complaint till the disposal of their revision plea (challenging Metropolitan Court’s order issuing summons to them) in a sessions court.
Advocate Aum Kotwal appeared for Kejriwal and Singh