Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday pleaded ‘not guilty’ in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him for passing alleged derogatory remarks against freedom fighter and right-wing leader Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during his speech at London in 2023.
Gandhi did not appear personally before the court. He moved an application through his lawyer Milind Pawar, seeking permission to record his plea through his Counsel.
Special Judge Amol Shinde allowed the application and proceeded to record Gandhi’s plea.
The Pune court asked the Congress leader whether he pleaded guilty. On behalf of Gandhi, Advocate Pawar replied in negative.
The Special Judge then read out in the court the speech in question and explained that as per the complaint and the material on record, Gandhi would face trial under Section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (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.
He 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.
Satyaki demanded maximum punishment for Gandhi under Section 500 IPCand sought imposition of maximum compensation as per Section 357 CrPC.