Special Court Dismisses Plea Seeking "Strict Action" Against Rahul Gandhi, Cancellation Of Bail For "Delaying" Savarkar Defamation Trial

A Special MP/MLA Court recently dismissed an application seeking "strict action" against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and also cancellation of his bail, for purposely delaying the ongoing defamation case against him for his defamatory statements about right-wingh leader Vinayak Savarkar.

Notably, Gandhi had got bail from the special court on January 10 this year. The special court had also granted permanent exemption to him from appearing in the court after he virtually appeared before special Judge Amol Shinde.

However, last month, Savarkar's grandson and complainant in the present proceedings - Satyaki Savarkar moved an application through his advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, seeking to cancel the bail granted to Gandhi and also to take a strict action against him.

In his May 28 order, the special judge noted Gandhi has been released on bail and that he has been granted permanent exemption from appearing before the court.

"There are no sufficient reasons to seize the bail bonds of the accused. It is not found that the accused is prolonging the matter. The grounds mentioned in the application are not justified to take strict action against accused," the judge observed, while dismissing the said application.

Background:

The defamation complaint asserts that Gandhi has repeatedly defamed Savarkar on various occasions over the years. One specific incident highlighted was on March 5, 2023, when Gandhi addressed the Overseas Congress in the United Kingdom.

The complainant - Satyaki Savarkar (grand nephew of VD Savarkar) has claimed that Gandhi made intentionally wild allegations against Savarkar, knowing them to be untrue, with the intention of harming Savarkar's reputation and causing mental agony to the complainant and his family. The complaint states that the defamatory speech was delivered in England, but its impact was felt in Pune as it was published and circulated throughout India.

Satyaki, in his complaint, has submitted several news reports and a YouTube link to a video of Gandhi's speech in London as evidence. He has claimed that Gandhi falsely accused Savarkar of writing a book in which he described beating up a Muslim person, which Savarkar never wrote and such an incident never happened.

Satyaki argued that Gandhi made these false, malicious, and wild allegations with the specific objective of defaming Savarkar and harming his reputation.

The criminal defamation application filed by Satyaki demands maximum punishment for Gandhi under Section 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the IPC and seeks imposition of maximum compensation as per Section 357 (Order to pay compensation) of the CrPC.

Earlier, the Court had allowed Gandhi's application to convert the case as summons trial from summary trial in order to bring historical evidence on record.

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