PM degree row: SC declines AAP’s Sanjay Singh plea against summons

New Delhi [India], April 8 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Monday declined the plea of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh against the issuance of summons issued by the trial court in a defamation case filed by Gujarat University over his alleged comments in relating to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree.

The bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was not convinced to interfere with the High Court order which had also refused to stay the trial.

“We are not inclined to entertain the present petition,” said the bench.

“The High Court has already observed that all contentions available to the parties are kept open. The trial court judge would not be influenced by any of the observations made in the impugned order,” said the apex court.

The Gujarat High Court in February dismissed the petitions filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Member of Parliament Sanjay Singh seeking quashing of summons against them in a defamation case.

Challenging the High Court order, Singh moved the top court seeking relief.

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.

According to the university, the AAP leader’s comments targeting 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.