Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi to Face Pune Court on 23rd October in Defamation Case Related to Remarks About Savarkar
Pune, 4th October 2024: A Pune court issued a summons today for Rahul Gandhi to appear in a criminal defamation case brought by the grandnephew of the late Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The complaint alleges that the Congress leader made objectionable remarks about the Hindutva ideologue during a visit to the United Kingdom last year.
The court has scheduled Gandhi’s appearance for 23rd October.
In April 2023, Satyaki Savarkar, the grandson of one of Vinayak Savarkar’s brothers, filed a complaint with a Pune magistrate regarding alleged defamatory comments made by Rahul Gandhi. These remarks were reportedly made during a gathering in London on 5th March 2023.
According to the complaint, “Rahul Gandhi, for reasons known only to him, has repeatedly defamed and insulted Savarkar over many years. On one such occasion, on 5th March 2023, while addressing an Overseas Congress event in the United Kingdom, he deliberately made outrageous allegations against Savarkar, fully aware that they were false, intending to damage Savarkar’s reputation.”
The complaint further states, “Rahul Gandhi has willfully made false, malicious, and outrageous allegations against Savarkar, knowing them to be untrue, with the specific intent to harm his reputation, defame the surname ‘Savarkar,’ and distress the family of the late Savarkar.”
Satyaki Savarkar also claims that Rahul Gandhi “deliberately used words” that would “inflict mental anguish” on him and his family. He has requested that the court prosecute Rahul Gandhi according to the law and impose the maximum penalty, along with compensation for the petitioner.
In a separate matter, a Nashik court recently summoned the Congress leader over another defamation case concerning his alleged objectionable remarks about Savarkar. In this case, the complainant, who directs an NGO, claims that Rahul Gandhi harmed Savarkar’s reputation during a press conference in Hingoli and a speech in November 2022. He alleges that Gandhi, on both occasions, knowingly damaged Savarkar’s reputation through his words and visual representations, attempting to tarnish the latter’s image in society.
