SC refuses to entertain Kejriwal's plea against HC order in defamation case filed by Guj University
PM Modi degree row
New Delhi, Aug 25: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's plea challenging the high court order rejecting his request to stay the criminal defamation proceedings filed by the Gujarat University over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's educational qualification.
Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel had filed a defamation case against Kejriwal and AAP leader Sanjay Singh over their alleged comments after the Gujarat High Court set aside an order of the Chief Information Commissioner for providing information about Modi's degrees to them under the RTI Act.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti said it is not issuing notice on the plea as the matter is pending before the Gujarat High Court and is listed for hearing on August 29.
The bench said the Gujarat University and Kejriwal can raise their grievances before the high court.
At the outset, senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said the high court had wrongly refused to grant interim stay on the defamation proceedings against him.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the University, said there was suppression of facts by Kejriwal.
The Gujarat High Court had on August 11 rejected Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh's plea seeking an interim stay on the criminal defamation proceedings against them.
A Gujarat metropolitan court had earlier summoned Kejriwal and Singh in the defamation case over their "sarcastic" and "derogatory" statements in connection with PM Modi's degree. The matter is listed for hearing on August 31.
The two AAP leaders later filed a revision application in the sessions court challenging the metropolitan court's summons in the case.
However, the sessions court on August 7 rejected their plea for an interim stay on trial, after which they approached the Gujarat High Court. The revision application in the Sessions Court will now be heard on September 16.
Only Kejriwal moved the top court challenging the high court order of August 11.
According to the complaint filed by Patel, the two leaders made "defamatory" statements at press conferences and on Twitter handles targeting the university over Modi's degree.
Their comments targeting the Gujarat University were defamatory and hurt the prestige of the university which has established its name among the public, the complainant said.
"Their statements were sarcastic and intentionally made to hurt the prestige of the university," Patel has said in his complaint.
On March 31, the Gujarat High Court had quashed a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC) which directed the Gujarat University to provide information on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree to Kejriwal, observing the AAP chief's RTI plea appeared to be "politically vexatious and motivated" instead of being based on "sound public interest considerations".
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Two arrested in K'taka for assaulting minors, uploading CSAM content
Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
