Rahul Gandhi Faces Defamation Case Over Remarks on Hindutva Ideologue Savarkar
Mumbai: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi once again finds himself in a legal battle over his remarks on Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar. Following a defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of the late Savarkar, a Pune court summoned the Congress leader to appear before it on August 19.
Judicial magistrate Akshi Jain in Pune issued the order on May 30 under Section 204 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
In April last year, Satyaki filed a defamation complaint against Gandhi, accusing him of making fictitious, false and malicious remarks about Savarkar in his 2023 speech made in London. Subsequently, the judge directed the Pune police to probe the defamation complaint as per Section 202, CrPC. Accordingly, the police submitted its inquiry report before the judge on May 27. Following this, the judicial magistrate took cognizance of the complaint and issued a process against Gandhi.
According to the complaint, Gandhi claimed in the speech addressing a gathering of the Overseas Congress in the United Kingdom that Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and felt happy about it. The Congress leader further asked the gathering if it was a cowardly act or not.
In the complaint, Satyaki claimed that Gandhi deliberately uttered the words to cause mental agony to him and his family.
“Savarkar has not written any such book as claimed by Rahul Gandhi, nor has such an incident ever happened,” Satyaki said.
The complainant has sought stringent punishment for Gandhi under Indian Penal Code section 500 (criminal defamation), which prescribes a maximum two year jail term.
In March 2023, Gandhi was convicted by a Surat court for defamatory remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The court had given Gandhi the maximum punishment of two years in the case, which led to his immediate disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP. The Supreme Court, however, stayed the conviction in April, thereby restoring Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership.
