AHMEDABAD: A Gujarat court on Tuesday issued a fresh summons to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and AAP MP Sanjay Singh to appear before it on June 7 in a criminal defamation case filed by the Gujarat University over PM Narendra Modi’s academic qualifications.
The court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate SJ Panchal issued the summons after being told that the previous summons asking them to appear on May 23 didn’t seem to have been received by the duo as they were not present in the court.
“On April 15, the court had ordered both defendants, Kejriwal and Singh, to appear in court. The hearing was scheduled for today. However, it appears that the summons lacked clarity, so the judge ruled that the accused should get a new summons and copies of the complaint. The next scheduled hearing date is June 7,” Amit Nayak, petitioner’s attorney, told the media.
In a previous criminal defamation charge, the court of additional chief metropolitan Magistrate Jayesh Chovatiya had summoned the AAP leaders for making “sarcastic” and “derogatory” remarks against the Gujarat University regarding PM Modi’s academic degree.
However, AAP’s Gujarat legal cell leader Pranav Thakkar stated, “We learned through reports that summons were issued but neither Kejriwal nor Singh received them. They will appear only after receiving the summons.”
Chovatiya, in response to a complaint made by Gujarat University registrar Piyush Patel, issued a summons on April 15 after concluding that there appeared to be a case against Kejriwal and Singh under the relevant IPC section.