Congress president Rahul Gandhi will face trial in a defamation case filed against him by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
On Tuesday, Mr. Gandhi appeared before a local court in Bhiwandi and pleaded “not guilty” to the charges under IPC section 499 (defamation) and section 500 (punishment for defamation) which attract simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or fine, or both.
On March 6, 2014, Mr. Gandhi had made a speech in Bhiwandi holding the organisation responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He had said, “RSS people killed Gandhiji and today their people (BJP) talk of him...They opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji.” Rajesh Kunte, secretary of the Bhiwandi unit of the RSS registered an FIR against Mr. Gandhi.
Counsel for Mr. Kunte told the court that Mr. Gandhi admitted to have made these remarks in his speech.
Mr. Gandhi took the witness box and the judge read out the charges against him.
Civil Judge A.I. Shaikh said, “You have defamed the complainant’s organisation and have said, RSS ke logon ne goli maari aur sardar patel ne likha hain. Therefore, the reputation of the complainant and the organisation was harmed under section 499 and section 500.”
To this, Mr. Gandhi said, “I plead not guilty.”
The complainant’s counsel said in an affidavit filed before the Bombay High Court earlier that Mr. Gandhi in his affidavit had admitted making the remarks against the RSS and sought for the affidavit to be taken on record.
Mr. Gandhi, represented by advocates Sudeep Pasbola and Kushal Mor, agreed to share the affidavit.
On April 23, Advocate Mor had made an application to convert the summary trial into a summons trial. The difference in the two is - in a summary case only the summary of the evidence is recorded by the court while in a summons trial all the evidence is recorded in detail. This plea was allowed by the court and the matter is adjourned to August 10.
The Gandhi scion is out on bail since November 16, 2016 on the personal surety of Shivraj Patil who submitted land documents of a place in Latur.
