Today, On 4th April, The Allahabad High Court rejected Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging a summoning order in the Savarkar defamation case. A sessions court had issued the summons last December, citing that his remarks on Savarkar promoted hatred and ill-will. The court’s decision means Gandhi must now appear as required in the legal proceedings. This case adds to the ongoing legal challenges faced by the Congress leader.
Prayagraj: The Allahabad High Court declined to set-aside a sessions court order summoning opposition leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly making derogatory comments about Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during his Bharat Jodo Yatra rally in 2022.
Justice Subhash Vidyarthi noted that Gandhi has the option to approach the Sessions Judge with a plea under Section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to review the lower court’s records. Advocates Pranshu Agrawal, Mohammed Samar Ansari, and Mohd Yasir Abbasi represented Gandhi.
The summons was issued by a Lucknow sessions court in December of last year.
The trial court indicated that Gandhi had referred to Savarkar as a British collaborator who received a pension, asserting that such remarks fostered hatred and discord within society.
Consequently, the court found a prima facie case against Gandhi and mandated his appearance.
In response, Gandhi challenged the summoning order in the High Court. He faces charges under Sections 153A (promoting enmity) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), following a complaint filed by advocate Nripendra Pandey.
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Pandey had initially sought to register a first information report (FIR) against Gandhi for his comments made on November 17, 2022, in which he labeled Savarkar as a collaborator with the British.
Pandey argued that Gandhi’s remarks were intended to incite societal hatred and emphasized that Mahatma Gandhi had once recognized Savarkar as a patriot.
In June 2023, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ambrish Kumar Srivastava dismissed Pandey’s complaint, leading him to appeal to the sessions court.
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The sessions court subsequently accepted the appeal and referred the matter back to the Magistrate court, which then issued the summons to Gandhi.
Additionally, the Lucknow court recently fined Gandhi Rs.200 for failing to appear in the case.
Gandhi, who serves as the MP for Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh and is the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, has been linked to this case since April last year. Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Vinayak Savarkar, filed a complaint in a magistrate court in Pune, alleging that Gandhi made defamatory remarks about Savarkar during a speech in London on March 5, 2023.