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The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the defamation proceedings initiated against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh over their comments in connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's academic degree.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta granted a stay on the proceedings before the trial court for four weeks. The apex court asked the Gujarat High Court to expeditiously dispose of a plea for interim relief filed by them in the matter during this time. The order of the top court came on a plea filed by Singh seeking the transfer of the case to a trial court outside the State of Gujarat. The bench refused to entertain the transfer petition. Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and AAP leader Sanjay Singh over their alleged comments after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Chief Information Commissioner for providing information about the Prime Minister's degrees to them under the RTI Act. A Gujarat Metropolitan court had summoned Kejriwal and Singh in the defamation case over their sarcastic and derogatory statements in connection with Modi's degree. The Gujarat High Court had in August last year refused to grant an interim stay on these proceedings, which was upheld by the apex court. According to the University, the AAP leader's comments targeting the Gujarat University were defamatory and hurt the prestige of the university which has established its name among the public. On March 31, 2023, the Gujarat High Court quashed a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission which directed the Gujarat University to provide information on Modi's degree to Kejriwal. (ANI)
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