A trial court in Nashik on Thursday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case registered over his alleged derogatory remarks against freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate RC Narwadia granted bail to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on a bail bond of Rs 15,000.
Attending the proceedings through video-conferencing, Gandhi pleaded not guilty.
One Devendra Bhutada, resident of Nashik, had filed a complaint against Gandhi under Sections 500 (defamation) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for harming the reputation of Savarkar.
The petitioner contended that in November 2022, while delivering a speech during his Bharat Jodo yatra and also in a press conference at Hingoli, Maharashtra, Gandhi allegedly said that Savarkar ‘prayed for release with folded hands’ and later on ‘promised to work for the British government’.
Filed by Advocate Manoj Pingle, the plea contended that Gandhi, through his remarks, tried to ruin the reputation of the complainant’s idol VD Savarkar, his contribution to the society, and his noble work in the pre-independence period.
In a similar criminal defamation case filed before a Pune court, Gandhi recently pleaded not guilty. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha did not appear personally before the court on July 11. He moved an application through his lawyer Milind Pawar, seeking permission to make submission through his Counsel.
Special Judge Amol Shinde allowed the application and proceeded to record Gandhi’s statement.
The Special Judge then read out the speech in question in the court and explained that as per the complaint and the material on record, Gandhi would face trial under Section 500 IPC.
A criminal defamation complaint was filed against the Congress leader by Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of VD Savarkar. The complaint alleged that Gandhi repeatedly defamed Savarkar on various occasions over the years.
Satyaki cited an incident of March 5, 2023, when Gandhi addressed the Overseas Congress in the United Kingdom.
The complainant said the Congress leader intentionally made wild allegations against VD Savarkar, knowing them to be untrue, with the intention of harming Savarkar’s reputation and causing mental agony to the complainant and his family.
Although the defamatory speech was delivered in England, but its impact was felt in Pune as it was published and circulated throughout India, noted the plea.
The complaint cited various news reports and a YouTube link to a video of Gandhi’s speech in London as evidence. Satyaki claimed that Gandhi falsely accused Savarkar of writing a book in which he described that he and his friends assaulted a Muslim man and derived some pleasure by it.
As per Satyaki, Savarkar never wrote about any such incident and that such an incident never happened.
Gandhi made these wild, false and malicious allegations with the specific objective of defaming Savarkar and harming his reputation, he noted.
Satyaki sought maximum punishment for Gandhi under Section 500 IPC and maximum compensation as per Section 357 CrPC.