A Pune court on Thursday granted time till July 3 to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to submit his response over a criminal defamation application filed by Satyaki Savarkar, seeking a copy of the book mentioned by Gandhi, during his allegedly defamatory speech against Hindu Mahasabha leader and freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The order was passed by Special Judge Amol Shinde of aspecial MP/MLA court in Pune.
Advocate Milind Pawar, appearing for Gandhi, contended that complainant Satyaki wrongly invoked Section 93 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) for seeking the copy of the book. The complainant tried to mislead the court as BNSS was not even enforced at the time when the instant case was initiated.
Although they filed a four-page reply in the court, due to some unforeseen circumstances, Gandhi could not file his say in the case, said Advocate Pawar, seeking time to file a detailed response.
Filed by Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, Satyaki submitted that the book relied upon by Gandhi in his speech was necessary and a copy of the same must be furnished to him. The complainant pointed out that in the previous hearing, the court had allowed an application filed by Gandhi, who sought the copies of two books – ‘Majhi Janmathep’ (My Life Sentence) and ‘Hindutva,’ authored by Savarkar.
Gandhi had repeatedly defamed Savarkar on various occasions over the years. One specific incident was on March 5, 2023, when the Leader of Opposition addressed the Overseas Congress in the United Kingdom, claimed the application.
Satyaki, grand nephew of VD Savarkar, further alleged in the plea that Gandhi intentionally made wild allegations against the freedom fighter, knowing them to be untrue, with the intention of harming Savarkar’s reputation and causing mental agony to the complainant and his family. The defamatory speech was delivered in England, but its impact was felt in Pune as it was published and circulated throughout India.
The complaint cited several news reports and a YouTube link to a video of Gandhi’s speech in London as evidence. It alleged that Gandhi falsely accused Savarkar of writing a book in which he described beating up a Muslim person, which Savarkar never wrote and such an incident never happened.
Gandhi made false, malicious, and wild allegations with the specific objective of defaming Savarkar and harming his reputation, the complainant added.
Satyaki demanded maximum punishment for Gandhi under Section 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sought imposition of maximum compensation as per Section 357 (order to pay compensation) of CrPC.
The court had earlier allowed Gandhi’s application to convert the case from summary trial to summons trial in order to bring historical evidence on record.