Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh filed a petition with the Gujarat High Court to contest the summonses that had been issued to them by a metropolitan court after it had taken Gujarat University's defamation case into account. The politicians filed petitions in the high court after a city sessions court rejected their pleas in this regard on September 14.
GU filed a criminal complaint against the political figures in April, accusing them of defamation for making disparaging and satirical comments about the institution in relation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree. After listening to the testimony of four witnesses and reviewing the university's audio and video evidence, a metropolitan magistrate issued summonses to them.
As the metropolitan court was insisting on the presence of both , which they had promised, they challenged the trial court’s taking cognizance of GU’s complaint on various grounds. Additional sessions judge J M Brahmbhatt turned down their revision applications, saying, “The magistrate has reached the conclusion of subjective satisfaction and issued the process after analyzing and appreciating the material on record, which is neither patently illegal nor erroneous.”
Both accused persons’ main contention against the summons is that GU could not have raised the grievance of being defamed because it is considered a State under Article 12 of the Constitution. The city sessions court rejected this claim and agreed with the university's claims that GU is an autonomous legal organisation because it is neither administratively, financially, or functionally controlled by the state government.