The Gujarat High Court on Friday refused to grant any interim relief to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on a plea seeking a stay on proceedings in a criminal defamation complaint filed by Gujarat University in the case pertaining to PM Narendra Modi's academic degree, reported PTI. The court said that there cannot be any relief till their revision plea, challenging Metropolitan Court’s order issuing summons to them, in a sessions court is not disposed of.
The order was passed by a bench of Justice Samir J. Dave who heard the arguments of CM Kejriwal's Counsel Senior Advocate Mihir Joshi and PP Mitesh Amin.
According to PTI, Justice Samir Dave noted that both leaders had earlier given an assurance to the sessions court that they will remain present before the metropolitan court to record their statement.
"You have to remain present...you are avoiding court appearance," the judge said, as quoted by the agency.
Notably, as per PTI, a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad had earlier summoned Kejriwal Singh for August 11 in the defamation case filed by the Gujarat University over their alleged derogatory remarks in connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree.
On August 5, the City Civil & Sessions Court Ahmedabad rejected their (Kejriwal and Singh) plea to stay the proceedings in the trial pending the disposal of their revision plea, the news outlet reported. Both leaders challenged this order and moved the Gujarat High Court. The duo also urged for the court's direction for an expeditious hearing of the revision plea.
Notably, Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel filed a defamation case against the AAP 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, as reported by PTI. Their comments against Gujarat University were defamatory and intended to hurt the reputation of the varsity, the complaint further stated.
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