A court in Maharashtra's Thane district on Saturday granted a permanent exemption to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from appearing before it in a defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Sawyamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary.

Bhiwandi First Class Judicial Magistrate C Wadikar who heard Gandhi's application filed through his counsel Narayan Iyer observed that the Congress leader deserves a permanent exemption.