Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has filed an application in a Pune court seeking contempt of court proceedings against Satyaki Savarkar, the complainant in a criminal defamation case filed against Gandhi for allegedly defaming freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Amol Shinde of Special MP/MLA court will hear the application on August 13.
Filed by Advocate Milind Pawar, the petition alleged that Satyaki Savarkar wilfully failed to supply crucial evidence, such as material documents and electronic evidence in a usable form, despite multiple court orders.
As per the defence, Savarkar filed a CD with the court but instead provided the accused with a pen drive on May 9, 2025. The pen drive was allegedly found to be corrupted. It was neither accessible nor readable on any electronic device available with the defence.
The petition submitted that the originally filed CD and transcript with the court, which were central to the complainant’s claims, were never provided to them, despite specific directions by the court. This reflected a clear disregard and disrespect towards the authority of the court, amounting to contempt of court.
It further caused serious prejudice to the accused’s (Gandhi’s) right to effectively prepare and conduct his defence, noted the plea.
Gandhi further accused Satyaki Savarkar of submitting contradictory documents, specifically two different versions of a family tree. One version allegedly omitted the name of his mother, Himani Savarkar, allegedly linked to Nathuram Godse’s family.
It raised serious doubts regarding the authenticity and reliability of the documents submitted by the complainant. The conduct of the complainant reflected irresponsibility and arrogance, the plea added.
Earlier on July 11, Gandhi pleaded not guilty in the criminal defamation case.
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 under Section 357 CrPC.