PM Modi degree row: SC to hear Sanjay Singh’s plea on March 11

The Supreme Court has scheduled a plea filed by Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh for March 11. Singh has challenged the Gujarat High Court’s order dismissing his petition to quash the summons issued against him in a criminal defamation case concerning alleged comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s educational qualification.
On February 16, the high court rejected pleas by Singh and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal seeking to quash the summons in the defamation case. Singh’s challenge to the high court order was brought before a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta.
The apex court has scheduled the matter for hearing on March 11. Singh has submitted the petition to the apex court through advocate Vivek Jain.

Kejriwal and Singh had contested the summons issued by a trial court in the case initiated by Gujarat University, as well as the subsequent dismissal of their revision applications against the summons by the session’s court.
Previously, a Gujarat metropolitan court summoned Kejriwal and Singh in the defamation case regarding their alleged “sarcastic” and “derogatory” statements concerning Modi’s educational degrees.

The defamation case was filed by Gujarat University Registrar Piyush Patel after the Gujarat High Court overturned a chief information commissioner’s order to disclose information about Modi’s educational degrees under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.
According to Patel’s complaint, the two leaders made defamatory statements during press conferences and on the microblogging platform X, targeting the university over Modi’s degrees.

Patel alleged that their remarks were intended to harm the university’s reputation, which has gained public recognition.
“Their statements were sarcastic and deliberately made to damage the university’s reputation,” Patel stated in the complaint.

Last year, on March 31, the high court invalidated a 2016 order of the Central Information Commission (CIC), which had instructed Gujarat University to disclose information about Modi’s educational degrees to Kejriwal.
The court observed that Kejriwal’s RTI request seemed to be “politically vexatious and motivated,” rather than based on “sound public interest considerations.”