A Nashik criminal court has dismissed the defamation case lodged against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for comments he made about Hindutva figure Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra. The court’s decision formally ends the proceedings.
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, received significant relief from Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate R. C. Narwadia’s court in a defamation matter.
The complaint accused the former Congress president of making offensive remarks about Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra.
ACJM Narwadia had first ordered that process be issued in the case.
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Gandhi’s lawyers challenged that order by filing a criminal review petition in the Nashik Sessions Court. After hearing the review, the Sessions Court partly allowed it and set aside the directive to issue process.
The Magistrate instructed ACJM Narwadia to reexamine whether process should be issued in the original criminal proceeding.
Following that, the Sarkarwada Police Station submitted a report to the court under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Subsequently, the complainant voluntarily withdrew the complaint, and ACJM Narwadia closed the matter on that basis.
Senior advocate Jayant Jaibhave told media,
“Since there is no legal basis or facts in this case, the complainant may have withdrawn the complaint after the Honourable Court had already given its verdict in the review petition. After that, no truth was found to conduct any further investigation.”
Responding to the outcome, Nashik City Congress Committee President Akash Chhajed said the following,
“Such cases are being constantly filed against Rahul Gandhi in various parts of the country to defame him. However, this country runs on a Constitution; therefore, such complainants do not find any recourse in the courts.”
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During the 2022–2023 Bharat Jodo Yatra, Gandhi had stated that Savarkar had apologised to the British. Supporters of Savarkar lodged complaints against Gandhi in several locations after that remark.
One such petition in Nashik was filed by the Nirbhaya Foundation, and Gandhi appeared in court twice for hearings in that matter. Gandhi had previously acknowledged that he expected to face similar cases across the country.
The complaint had been filed by Devendra Bhutada, the president of the Nashik-based Nirbhaya Foundation, who claimed that Rahul Gandhi made defamatory and derogatory remarks at public meetings in Hingoli and Akole on June 15 and 16, 2022.
Acting on Bhutada’s petition, the police invoked Sections 499 (defamation) and 504 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code, after which a Nashik court issued summons to Gandhi in September 2024.
Gandhi later secured bail and was allowed to join the hearings through virtual mode, where he entered a plea of not guilty.
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