Former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is out on bail in a corruption case linked to the excise policy scam, has faced another setback with the Supreme Court on Monday dismissing his petition challenging the summons issued by a Gujarat court in connection with a criminal defamation case.
The Aam Aadmi Party supremo is facing defamation suit along with his party colleague Sanjay Singh over their remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degrees, the genuineness of which has been questioned by several opposition parties, with AAP at the forefront.
Kejriwal approached the Supreme Court after the Gujarat High Court dismissed his petition filed against the summons by the trial court. The top court junked his plea, noting that it had taken a similar stand in April on a similar petition filed by Sanjay Singh.
"We must have a consistent approach. Having regard to that view, we would not like to entertain the present plea. The same is dismissed," said a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti.
The top court, however, refused to go into the merit of the case, saying all contentions are left open to be decided in the trial.
‘Ready to say sorry’
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, argued that his client had only questioned why the Gujarat University had not published the prime minister’s degrees and wondered if it was because the certificate was fake.
If such statements are defamatory, the aggrieved party should be the prime minister, not the university, he said, adding that Kejriwal was even ready to file a statement of regret for his remarks.
However, his arguments were opposed vehemently by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who, appearing for the university, alleged that Kejriwal has the habit of “making reckless statements and then saying sorry”.
An RTI query and the ensuing legal battle
In 2016, the central information commission (CIC) directed the Gujarat University to provide details of Modi’s post graduate degree to Kejriwal. The CIC order was based on a query filed by the AAP leader under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
The university, however, challenged the order in Gujarat High Court which, in March 2023, not only quashed the CIC directive, but also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Kejriwal, the petitioner. The court went on to observe that the AAP chief's RTI plea appeared to be "politically vexatious and motivated" instead of being based on "sound public interest considerations".
While expressing his disappointment over the high court order, Kejriwal questioned why the prime minister had refused to produce his degree certificate in the court. “It is either because of his ego he doesn’t feel the need to show it to anyone but this kind of behaviour is not valid in a democracy. The other question that arises is that the degree might be fake,” he tweeted.
Sajay Singh, too, aired a similar opinion when he posted on X: “Doesn’t the country even have the right to know how educated their PM is? He vehemently opposed showing the degree in the court. Why? And those who demand to see their degree will be fined? What is this happening? Illiterate or less educated PM is very dangerous for the country”.
The Gujarat University, which felt the AAP leaders’ remarks as "sarcastic" and "derogatory", filed a criminal defamation case against the duo. Admitting the petition filed by Registrar Piyush Patel, the Gujarat metropolitan court issued summons to both Kejriwal and Singh.
The two leaders filed revision applications in the session court, however their petitions were turned down, after which they approached the high court challenging the proceedings. On February 16, the high court, too, dismissed their pleas, prompting the AAP leaders to knock the apex court’s door.
On April 8, an apex court bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta dismissed Singh’s petition, noting all contentions are kept open.
“In any case, the learned single judge of the High Court has already observed that all contentions available to the parties are kept open and the learned trial judge would not be influenced by any of the observations made in the impugned order,” the bench said.
Taking a similar stand, the bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S.V.N. Bhatti turned down Kejriwal’s petition on Monday (October 21).