The Supreme Court Friday refused to entertain Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea to stay the trial in a case of criminal defamation over remarks that he allegedly made in connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s academic qualification.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and S V N Bhatti noted that the trial in the case was pending before the Gujarat High Court where it is due to come up for hearing later this month.
Declining to issue notice, the SC said, “We hope and trust that the High Court will decide the petition on the said date.”
The Additional Metropolitan Magistrate court in Ahmedabad had summoned Kejriwal and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the case filed by the Gujarat University, which alleged that the Delhi CM had made “derogatory” statements against it.
Kejriwal then approached the High Court seeking stay of proceedings till his revision plea against the summoning order was decided. However, the HC did not grant him any interim relief following which he moved the SC.
Senior Advocate A M Singhvi said the summoning order was wrongly issued. He added that the sessions court had issued notice on the revision plea but did not stay the trial.
Solicitor General, who appeared for the University, said that Kejriwal’s comments contained many “innuendos.