Assam court has issued bailable warrant against Arvind Kejriwal for no-show in defamation case
Highlights
- Bailable warrant against Arvind Kejriwal by an Assam court
- Warrant for not appearing in court in the case on defaming PM Modi
- Mr Kejriwal had tweeted that PM Modi studied only till Class 12
Arvind Kejriwal, the Chief Minister of Delhi, faces a warrant in Assam for not appearing in court yesterday in a defamation case over his tweet on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's degree last year.
The warrant, which is bailable, has been issued at a time Mr Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are immersed in their campaign for the April 23 Municipal Corporation of Delhi or MCD polls.
Mr Kejriwal had referred to the civic polls while requesting the court in Diphu to excuse him and give him more time to appear. His lawyer said he "cannot leave Delhi to attend the court hearing because of the civic election and the nature of his work because he is Chief Minister of Delhi".
The judge rejected the request, noting that Mr Kejriwal had failed to appear once before on January 30, and issued a warrant of Rs 10,000.
The criminal defamation case was filed by Assam BJP leader Surya Rongphar after Mr Kejriwal alleged in a tweet in December that the Prime Minister had studied only till Class 12 and his college degree was fake. The comment was "baseless and misleading", said Mr Rongphar.
The court will take up the case next on May 8.
Mr Kejriwal and his party have repeatedly questioned the authenticity of PM Modi's Delhi University degree. The university's registrar said last year that the Prime Minister's degree was authentic and he "cleared the examination in 1978 and was awarded the degree in 1979."
Earlier this year, the Central Information Commission rejected the university's objection to providing details sought by an RTI campaigner who is an AAP supporter.