PM Modi degree row: Supreme Court refuses relief to Arvind Kejriwal in defamation case

Supreme Court on Friday refused to give any relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the defamation proceedings filed by the Gujarat University over his remarks about the educational qualifications of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Arvind Kejriwal approached the apex court after his plea to stay the criminal proceedings was rejected by the Gujarat High Court.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti did not issue any notice on the plea as the matter is pending before the Gujarat High Court with a hearing scheduled on 29 August. The bench said that Arvind Kejriwal can raise his grievances before the concerned high court.

Senior lawyer Abhishek Singhvi, representing Kejriwal, asserted that the high court's decision to deny a temporary halt to the defamation case was incorrect.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represented the University, claimed that Kejriwal had deliberately concealed relevant information.

The case of defamation was filed by Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel against Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh after the Chief Information Commissioner's order to provide the details of PM Modi's degree was set aside by the Gujarat High Court.

Harm Gujarat University's reputation

As per the complaint filed by Piyush Patel, Arvind Kejriwal, and Sanjay Singh issued "defamatory" remarks during media briefings and on their Twitter accounts, specifically directed towards the university in relation to PM Modi's educational credentials.

The statements they made, which were aimed at Gujarat University, were of a defamatory nature and inflicted harm upon the university's reputation. This institution has garnered a respected reputation among the general public, and the complainant emphasized that the comments made by the leaders caused damage to its standing.

"Their statements were sarcastic and intentionally made to hurt the prestige of the university," Patel has said in his complaint.

On 11 August, the Gujarat High Court rejected the plea of Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh who requested an interim stay on the criminal defamation case against them. Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh were earlier summoned by Gujarat metropolitan court for their "sarcastic" and "derogatory" statements in connection with PM Modi's degree.

(With inputs from PTI)