Gujarat University has sued Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP’s MP Sanjay Singh with criminal defamation over their statements against the varsity over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree.
Acting on the complaint, a local court in Ahmedabad has issued summons to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh for their alleged sarcastic and derogatory statements against Gujarat University over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree.
The court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jayeshbhai Chovatiya on Sunday summoned the two AAP leaders on May 23, after observing that prima facie there appeared to be a case against them under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 500 (defamation) on a complaint filed by Gujarat University’s Registrar Piyush Patel.
The court has recorded the statements of four witnesses and analysed the statements and social media posts of both accused and 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 has accepted the contention of the complainant that accused Mr. Kejriwal made the statements in his “personal capacity” and therefore the court also ordered to delete ‘Chief Minister’ from Mr. Kejriwal’s name in the cause title of the case.
In the complaint, the varsity has argued that the statements were made in their personal capacity and “not affairs of the State” as it was not part of their assigned duty to make such statements and since they were made in their “personal capacity,” there was no need to seek consent of the competent authority to sue a person holding a public office.
The court has accepted the contention and held that if political leaders holding public offices make such statements to cause damage individuals or institutions, it’s breach of trust that is posed in them by the people.
The court has also noted that the order of the High Court was clear that the Gujarat University had already published the Prime Minister’s degree on its website and still the accused sued held a press conference and made statements which were circulated on social media platforms like Twitter.
In his complaint, the University’s Registrar has cited several statements of Mr. Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh, describing them as “defamatory” in nature and were meant to lower the prestige of the institution and hurt its image.
“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,” is one of the statements Mr. Kejriwal had made and the University has cited in its complaint.
For Mr. Singh, the complainant has cited cite his statement: “Prime Minister is putting his all to prove a fake degree as right” stating that the statement was intended to damage the reputation the institution, despite knowing that such remarks would be defamatory.
The Ahmedabad-based University has approached the court after the Gujarat High Court recently 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 ₹25,000 on Mr. Kejriwal in its verdict on March 31.
