Apex Court Refuses To Quash Summons Issued To AAP’s Sanjay Singh In Defamation Case Filed By Gujarat University For Remarks Regarding PM Modi’s Degree

The Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta, while dismissing the Special Leave Petition, said, “We are not inclined.” The Court also ordered, “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.”

Senior Advocates Rebecca John and Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Sanjay Singh.

Senior Advocate John submitted, “It is my affirmative case that I have never uploaded this on Twitter, not then, not now, and therefore the learned magistrate in his inquiry under 202 (Section 202 CrPC) ought to have checked the pen drive and ought to have seen whether the contents of this was on Twitter or not.”

“It is my respectful submission that on a perusal of this(Transcript of speech) Gujarat University has not been defamed in any manner and has not even been named and therefore for Gujarat University, through its Registrar, to sustain this criminal defamation case against me…How is Gujarat University affected by this? she further submitted.

Furthermore, “Can the University, who is a complainant, put up witnesses to satisfy Explanation 4 (Section 499 Explanation 4 of the IPC) and those witnesses are from within the university itself, to say that the reputation of the university was lowered in their estimation?”,

Justice Gavai said, “All a matter of defence…”

Justice Mehta said, “Only a prima facie case is required to be made out in a complaint, not even the standards of framing charge is something lower than that, for that there are allegations in the complaint. You will have your opportunity.”

John stated, “Where has the Gujarat University been defamed?”

Justice Mehta remarked, “That is explained in the complaint…this has to be read as a whole, not in isolation.”

Senior Advocate Singhvi raised the jurisdictional issue and stated that Gujarat University is a State under Article 12 of the Constitution, hence, the complaint is statutorily barred.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the University.

The Gujarat High Court in February 2024 had dismissed pleas by Aam Aadmi Party leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh to quash the summonses issued against them in a criminal defamation case over their comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational qualification. Through their pleas, Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal and AAP's Rajya Sabha member Singh had challenged the summonses by a trial court in the case filed by Gujarat University and the subsequent order of the sessions court dismissing their revision applications against the summons.

The bench of Justice Hasmukh D. Suthar held, “In wake of the aforesaid discussion, as the petitioners are only summoned, no any ground is found or case is made out to interfere with the impugned orders and as no defence can be looked into at this stage. Hence, present petitions being devoid of any merit are hereby dismissed. Rule is hereby discharged in each of the petitions.”

The metropolitan court had summoned Kejriwal and Singh on April 15 last year in the defamation case filed by GU over their "sarcastic" and "derogatory" statements in connection with PM Modi's degree in press conferences and on Twitter handles targeting the university. The two leaders then filed a revision application in the sessions court challenging the summons. However, the sessions court upheld the summons, after which they approached the Gujarat HC, which rejected their plea for an interim stay.

The two leaders also approached the Supreme Court, which too refused to entertain their pleas. The HC later directed the sessions court to conclude the hearing within ten days after assigning the matter to a new bench. GU registrar Piyush Patel had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and Singh after the HC in March last year set aside the Central Information Commission (CIC) order concerning PM Modi's educational qualification. While the court imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 upon Kejriwal, it also refused to grant a stay on the order.