The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed criminal defamation proceedings, pending before a Gujarat trial court, against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh for their alleged comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic degree.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was hearing a plea filed by Singh seeking transfer of the trial outside Gujarat. The Bench left the question of grant of interim relief to be considered by the Gujarat High Court within four weeks, Live Law reported.
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Appearing for Singh, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the trial court was continuing with the proceedings even as his plea for stay was pending before the HC.
The two AAP leaders are facing a criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University (GU) over their “sarcastic” and “derogatory” statements made in connection with PM Modi’s educational degree.
The Ahmedabad magistrate court had summoned the two leaders after observing that prima facie, there appeared to be a case against them under IPC Section 500 (defamation). GU Registrar Piyush Patel had filed a complaint against the AAP leaders over their comments after the Gujarat HC set aside the CIC’s order on the PM’s degree.