When troubles come, they come not single. But in battalions. The adage rings true for Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal. With two of his erstwhile Cabinet ministers now in jail, over alleged financial irregularities, the CBI has summoned Kejriwal for questioning in the liquor scam case.
In addition, on Saturday, a metropolitan court in Ahmedabad summoned Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh after the Gujarat University (GU) filed a criminal defamation case against them for “sarcastic and damaging statements against the university over the authenticity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree.”
The court observed that if political functionaries, instead of performing their duty, make statements because of personal animosity and to cause damage to others, it is in breach of trust that people repose in them and hence the statements made by Kejriwal and Singh are personal in nature.
The duo has been summoned on May 23. However, Kejriwal has been called in personal capacity and hence, “chief minister” stands deleted before Kejriwal’s name in the case’s cause title.
GU registrar Piyush Patel filed the complaint against Kejriwal and Singh on April 12, taking exception to press conferences conducted and posting it on Twitter handles by Kejriwal on April 1 and by Singh on April 2 respectively. It demanded action against them under Section 500 of the IPC. This was after the Gujarat HC upheld GU’s stand on not parting with Modi’s MA degree under RTI provisions and imposing a fine of Rs 25,000 on Delhi CM.
GU’s counsel Amit Nair cited allegedly “damaging statements” made by Kejriwal on why the university is not parting with Modi’s degree. “Degree is not given because it is possible that the degree is fake,” Kejriwal was quoted as saying. Similarly, the lawyer took objection to Singh’s statement, “They are now busy proving the PM’s fake degree as genuine”.
The lawyer examined four witnesses – Ashish Ratibhai, Rushikesh Ghanshyambhai, Virendra Chinubhai and Dipak Hasmukhbhai – during the court inquiry to substantiate GU’s claim that the defamatory statements against the university were uttered in a sarcastic manner and are damaging to the university’s prestige.
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