HC refuses urgent hearing to Kejriwal, Singh on pleas to quash summons in defamation case
Ahmedabad (PTI): The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday refused to grant an urgent hearing to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh on pleas seeking to quash summons in a criminal defamation case filed over their remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational degree.
Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal and AAP Rajya Sabha member Singh have challenged before the HC the September 14 order of the sessions court dismissing their revision applications against the trial court's summons in the criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University.
Justice Samir Dave refused to grant priority hearing to the matter listed in the HC on Tuesday after Kejriwal's advocate Percy Kavina mentioned it with a request to take it up on an urgent basis.
The matter has now been listed for hearing on September 29.
On two earlier occasions also, the HC had refused to grant urgent hearing on the pleas of the AAP leaders.
Sessions court judge JM Brahmbhatt had in an order earlier upheld the decision of the trial court to summon the two leaders and said its order was "neither illegal nor erroneous".
The metropolitan court here had summoned Kejriwal and Singh on April 15 in the defamation case filed by the Gujarat University over their "sarcastic" and "derogatory" statements in connection with PM's degree.
Gujarat University registrar Piyush Patel had filed a defamation case against the two AAP leaders over their comments after the High Court set aside an order of the Chief Information Commissioner on Modi's degree.
The two politicians made "defamatory" statements at press conferences and also on their Twitter (now X) handles targeting the university over Modi's degree, the complainant stated.
Their statements were sarcastic in nature and intentionally made to hurt the prestige of the university, which has established its name among people, it stated.
The two leaders had filed revision applications in the sessions court challenging the summons issued by the metropolitan court.
However, the sessions court on August 7 rejected their plea for an interim stay on the trial after which they approached the HC.
The high court also refused to entertain Kejriwal and Singh's plea for interim stay on the trial, prompting them to move the Supreme Court, where, too, they failed to get any relief.
The high court later directed the sessions court to conclude hearing within ten days after assigning the matter to a new bench, which upheld issuance of the summons, leading the two AAP leaders to move the HC again.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
