RSS defamation case: Rahul Gandhi pleads ‘not guilty’

Rahul Gandhi, at an election rally in 2014, had allegedly blamed the RSS for Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination.

Updated - December 01, 2021 06:02 am IST - Mumbai

Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the Seva Dal meeting at the AICC Headquarter, in New Delhi on Monday.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi during the Seva Dal meeting at the AICC Headquarter, in New Delhi on Monday.

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.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.