Sessions Court denies relief to Kejriwal in Gujarat University defamation case

Ahmedabad: A sessions court in the city has rejected the plea of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, seeking a stay or postponement of proceedings going on in a metropolitan court in the Gujarat University defamation case.

Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh had challenged the order of a metropolitan court that had taken up the case and issued summonses to them. The accused had sought interim relief through another application, requesting either a halt to the proceedings at the metropolitan court or a 90-day adjournment of the case.

However, the sessions court noted that the metropolitan court had already rejected an exemption application filed by Kejriwal and Singh. The lawyers for the politicians had assured the court of their presence on August 11 in the last hearing. The metropolitan court had also indicated that bailable warrants could be issued on August 11 if the politicians failed to appear again.

In April, Arvind Kejriwal conducted a press conference and made disparaging comments regarding the Prime Minister’s degree. Following suit, Sanjay Singh also organised a similar press conference, and the issue was shared on the social media platform Twitter. Gujarat University was implicated in both the press conference and the tweet. As a response, the university’s registrar, Piyush Patel, filed a complaint against them under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code for alleged defamation. This led to criminal proceedings against Kejriwal and Singh in the Metropolitan Court. DeshGujarat