PM Modi degree case: Gujarat High Court orders transfer of Arvind Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh revision pleas to different court

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed the Principal Sessions Judge at the Ahmedabad City Civil Court to transfer the revision application filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal against the summons issued to him in Gujarat University’s defamation case over the academic degree of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to a different court..Justice J Samir Dave ordered the judge to whom the case will be transferred to decide the matter within a period of 10 days after the assignment.“If any application will be made by the Original Accused, the Original Complainant will give no objection for the adjournment of the criminal case,” the Court ordered, while referring to the trial in the defamation case..Accordingly, the Court disposed of petitions filed by Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh for a stay on the trial during the pendency of the revision application.The Supreme Court last week, while declining to grant an interim stay in the defamation case, asked the High Court to decide on the same by August 29.During today's hearing, Senior Advocate Mihir Joshi, representing Kejriwal, informed the Court that the summoning order dated May 23 is under challenge and a revisional court is yet to examine the merits of the matter. “So the merits of this will be examined by the revisional court, where it is pending. Since it is a summoning order, the very threshold of initiation of criminal proceedings is under challenge. This is our fundamental case that there is a remedy provided under statute…which we have invoked in reasonable time,” Joshi said..He added that the revision application must be heard before the trial court proceeds further with the case. The Court was informed that while the case will come up for hearing before the trial court on August 31, the appellate court has adjourned the revision application to September 16 as the presiding judge is on leave. The High Court then transferred the revision application to a different court, which is required to decide on the same in 10 days..Gujarat University sued the two politicians for allegedly making defamatory statements against it for not disclosing the degree certificate of PM Modi. In an order passed on April 17 this year, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Jayeshbhai Chovatiya had said that the statements made by Kejriwal and Singh were prima facie defamatory.The judge passed the order after taking note of the oral and digital evidence shared in a pen drive, which comprised Kejriwal's tweets and speeches made after a judgment of the Gujarat High Court in the matter.In March, the High Court had allowed an appeal filed by the University and held that it need not disclose Prime Minister Modi's degree. The High Court had also imposed a fine of ₹25,000 on Kejriwal.