A court in Nashik district, Maharashtra has issued summon notice to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation suit by an advocate for his scurrilous comments on Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
On September 27, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nashik, Deepali Parimal Kaduskar issued process (summons/notice) to Mr. Gandhi stating that “the statement made against a patriotic person prima-facie seems to be defamatory”. Mr. Gandhi is to either physically appear or appoint his advocate to do so on the next adjourned date, which is to be as yet determined.
The complainant, who serves as the director of an NGO, told that he saw the press conference of Mr. Gandhi held in Hingoli and also the speech made by the congress leader in November year 2022.
He argued that on the two occasions, Mr. Gandhi by his words and pictures did purposely bring down the image of ‘Veer Savarkar’ and sought to dent the reputation of late Savarkar in the society.
“The speech of the accused along with press statements try to defame the image of the complainants God Swatantryaveer Savarkar and his image in public as well as his works for the society in pre independence period,” he told.
As stated by the complainant, Mr. Gandhi remarked, ‘Savarkar is BJP and RSS jin’ which the complainant found to be defamatory.
Mr. Gandhi was also quoted making some other allegations, ‘with a folding hand Savarkar prayed for release and later on promised to work for the British government’ the complainant said.
The court, while taking into consideration all the submissions made before it, held that, “Considering the record, it appears that the statements made by the accused against a patriotic person prima-facie seem to be of a defamatory nature.” With respect to this particular cause, the magistrate remarked that there are sufficient grounds to proceed in the case.
The court then ordered Mr. Gandhi to be charged with crimes as per the Indian Penal Code section 166A (criminal defamation) Sentences 499 and IPC 504 intentionally insult the range of man’s sense of condemnation.
