Nashik court summons Rahul Gandhi in defamation case over remarks on Savarkar

A court in Maharashtras Nashik district has summoned Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for his alleged objectionable remarks against Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar reported news agency PTIAdditional Chief Judicial Magistrate Nashik Deepali Parimal Kaduskar issued a process summonsnotice to Gandhi on September 27 noting that the statement made against a patriotic person primafacie seems to be defamatory reported PTIRahul Gandhi will have to appear either personally or through his legal representative on the next date of the defamation case which is yet to be decidedThe complainant who is the director of an NGO claimed he watched a press conference addressed by Gandhi in Hingoli and also a speech made by the Congress leader in November 2022 reported PTIHe alleged that Gandhi on the two occasions by his words and visual representations knowingly harmed the reputation of Veer Savarkar and also tried to defame the latters image in the societyThe speech of the accused along with press statements try to ruin the reputation of the complainants idol Swatantryaveer Savarkar and his contribution to the society along with his noble work in the preindependence period he said reported PTIAccording to the complainant Gandhi said Savarkar is BJP and RSS jin which was defamatory in nature reported PTIGandhi further made the allegations that with a folding hand Savarkar prayed for release and later on promised to work for the British government the complainant said reported PTIThe Nashik court after considering all the submissions made before it said Considering the record it appears that the statements made by the accused against a patriotic person primafacie seem to be defamatory reported PTIThere are sufficient grounds to proceed in the defamation case the magistrate addedThe Nashik court then issued the process against Gandhi for offences under Indian Penal Code sections 499 defamation and 504 intentional insult reported PTIAs per the complaint Rahul Gandhi claimed in his speech that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and his friends once beat up a Muslim man and Savarkar felt happyThe complainant claimed that no such incident had ever taken place and V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhereThe complainant filed a complaint under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500 defamation following which the court asked the Vishrambaug police station to verify the proof submitted by Satyaki Savarkar and submit a reportWith inputs from PTI