The Supreme Court on January 16 stayed defamation proceedings against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leader Sanjay Singh before a Gujarat court for their alleged comments in relation to the educational qualification of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
A Bench headed by Justice B.R. Gavai froze the proceedings for four weeks in order to give time for the Gujarat High Court to hear and decide a pending plea filed by them to quash the summons issued by the trial court.
The apex court passed the stay order while hearing a petition by Mr. Singh to transfer the defamation case to a court outside Gujarat. The Bench did not entertain Mr. Singh’s plea for transfer of the trial on the ground that the Gujarat judge was biased and was proceeding with the case despite the fact that their challenge to the summons issued was pending in the High Court.
The proceedings were initiated against the two leaders on a defamation complaint filed by the Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel.
On August 11, the High Court had rejected a plea moved by Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Singh for a stay of the criminal defamation proceedings against them.
A Gujarat metropolitan court had earlier summoned them in the defamation case over their alleged “sarcastic” and “derogatory” statements which came after the High Court quashed a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission directing the Gujarat University to provide Mr. Kejriwal information about Mr. Modi’s educational degrees.
