Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of V D Savarkar, sought court directions for voice samples of Rahul Gandhi in a defamation dispute. Through advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, the plea was filed before Judicial Magistrate A A Shinde, citing material to strengthen allegations.
PUNE: Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, has approached a local court requesting voice samples of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in relation to a defamation case stemming from Gandhi’s remarks about the late revolutionary.
Satyaki’s attorney, Sangram Kolhatkar, submitted the application to Judicial Magistrate (First Class) (MP/MLA Special Court) A A Shinde.
The application includes evidence intended to substantiate the case.
It asserts that,
“for the proper adjudication of certain electronic recordings, the voice samples of the accused (Rahul Gandhi) are an indispensable piece of evidence.”
Satyaki has requested that the court order the accused to provide voice samples to the relevant authority. Furthermore, he seeks a directive to the Forensic Science Laboratory to conduct a scientific analysis and comparison of the obtained samples with the recordings presented as evidence.
In 2023, Satyaki Savarkar filed a complaint before the magistrate alleging that Rahul Gandhi, currently the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, claimed in a speech in London that V D Savarkar had written in a book about an incident where he and five to six friends assaulted a Muslim man, and felt pleased about it. The complaint states that V D Savarkar never made such a claim.
Meanwhile, advocate Milind Pawar, representing Rahul Gandhi, commenced the cross-examination of Satyaki Savarkar.
Savarkar Defamation Case| Savarkar’s Grandnephew Appears Before Court Over Rahul Gandhi’s Remarks
Earlier, Satyaki Savarkar’s request to play a YouTube video of Rahul Gandhi’s alleged defamatory speech regarding his granduncle. Additionally, a special court for cases involving MPs and MLAs rejected a subsequent application from Satyaki to play an extra CD that he had submitted to the court. The judge noted that no such additional CD was on record.
During Satyaki’s examination-in-chief on November 14, the CD containing the video of Rahul Gandhi’s alleged defamatory remarks made in London in 2023 failed to play, as it contained no data. Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, representing Satyaki Savarkar, requested that the court play the original YouTube link instead. However, this request was opposed by Rahul Gandhi’s lawyer, Advocate Milind Pawar.
In its ruling on the same day, the court noted that the complainant had submitted a certificate in accordance with Section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act concerning the CD. However, it clarified that this certificate could not be applied to the YouTube URL.
Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde stated that
“the URL or web link is not supported by a certificate as per Section 65-B, and hence it cannot be admitted as evidence.”
On November 27, Satyaki Savarkar once again requested the court to consider the additional CD he provided. However, the court reiterated that there was no such CD in the records.
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