A Pune court has directed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on August 19 in connection with a criminal defamation case filed against him for allegedly making defamatory remarks against freedom fighter Swatantra Veer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The order was passed by Judicial Magistrate First Class Akshi Jain on Thursday under Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
The court passed the order on a petition filed by Satyaki Savarkar, grand-nephew of the Hindutva ideologue, alleging that Gandhi made derogatory remarks against the social reformist, during his speech in London on March 5, 2023.
The petition alleged that the former Congress President had intentionally made false, malicious and wild allegations against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, fully knowing the said allegations to be untrue, with the specific objective of harming the reputation and defaming the surname Savarkar.
Satyaki also submitted a few newspaper reports, including YouTube links, of Rahul Gandhi’s public address in London.
In January this year, after recording the statements of Satyaki and two witnesses, the JMFC court had directed the Pune police to conduct an inquiry into the defamation complaint according to the provisions of Section 202 of CrPC and submit its report by February 23.
The Vishrambaug police station in Pune had then begun an inquiry into the matter.
Police sought more time from the court to complete the inquiry and told the court in writing on April 2, 2024, that it was not possible to conduct further inquiry into the matter because, despite repeated communication, YouTube has not provided any information related to profile, IP address, email etc regarding the link with the video of Gandhi’s speech submitted in the application.
Assistant Police Inspector Tukaram Nimbalkar submitted the inquiry report before the court on May 27.
As per Satyaki’s lawyer Sangram Kolhatkar, the report submitted by the Vishrambaug police prima facie indicated that Gandhi had defamed Vinayak Savarkar.