PM Modi Degree Row: Gujarat Court Dismisses Arvind Kejriwal's Plea Challenging Criminal Prosecution In Defamation Case

On Friday, a metropolitan court in Gujarat's Ahmedabad district on Friday dismissed an application filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal opposing criminal prosecution in the defamation complaint lodged by Gujarat University against him.The complaint has been filed by the Gujarat University over the alleged remarks made by Kejriwal in connection with the academic degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.In his application, it was Kejriwal's contention before the Metropolitan Court that he cannot be prosecuted without obtaining prior government sanction as per Section 197 CrPC as he is a public servant. For context, Section 197 CrPC mandates prior sanction from a competent officer to prosecute a government servant for an alleged criminal act done in the discharge of his official duty.Opposing the Delhi Chief Minister's plea, the Counsel representing the Gujarat University, emphasized that the expression of defamatory statements does not fall within the purview of discharging official duties. It was contended that obtaining sanctions was unnecessary in the present case.Having heard both parties, Kejriwal's plea was rejected by the court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate SJ Panchal who determined that no such sanction was necessary. With this, the matter has now been posted for further hearing on December 28.In the criminal complaint filed by Gujarat University, through its Registrar Dr Piyush M.Patel under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code, the alleged statements of Kejriwal and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh have been referred to, accusing them of making sarcastic and defamatory statements in press conferences and on Twitter handles targeting the university over Modi's degree. The complaint states that the alleged statement was made right after the Gujarat High Court's order of quashing and setting aside the 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) directing the Gujarat University to provide “information regarding degrees in the name of Mr Narendra Damodar Modi" to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.The Complaint further states that immediately after the Gujarat High Court's order, Kejriwal made defamatory statements against Gujarat University in a press conference despite being aware of the fact that the Prime Minister's degree had been published on the University's website long back.Notably, the university has also contended in its complaint that CM Kejriwal made the statements in his “personal capacity” and “not affairs of the State”.In April this year, the additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jayeshbhai Chovatiya found that prima facie, both Kejriwal and Singh appeared to have targeted the Gujarat University as the words uttered by them were sarcastic and meant to target the Gujarat University's image in the minds of the people. With this, the court had summoned both the AAP Leaders."It is natural that due to the statements of the accused people who know the credit of Gujarat University and all the people who do not know Gujarat University will develop distrust towards Gujarat University," the Court observed.The Court also opined that if the political office bearers, instead of fulfilling their duty to their people, do any work directly or indirectly for their personal enmity or selfishness, to harm the opponents or the same person, and if they utter any such words, those words will be considered a violation of the trust placed by the people and the words uttered will be considered personal.

PM Modi Degree Row: Gujarat Court Dismisses Arvind Kejriwal's Plea Challenging Criminal Prosecution In Defamation Case

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