NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the criminal defamation proceedings against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal filed by Gujarat University over his remarks about PM Narendra Modi’s educational qualification.
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 university in the defamation case alleged that the sarcastic statements against the university over PM’s academic degree defamed it.“We are not inclined to issue the notice as the matter is still before the high court. We hope and trust that the HC will decide the plea on the said date,” said the bench.
The court was dealing with Kejriwal’s plea against Gujarat HC’s August 11 order of refusing to stay the trial till disposal of his plea challenging the summons issued by the metropolitan court. Delhi CM appearing through senior advocate AM Singhvi told the court that the summoning order was issued wrongly. He added that the sessions court issued notice in the plea but refused to stay the trial.“The trial is going at a breakneck speed,” Singhvi said.