Rahul Gandhi was summoned by the court in a criminal defamation case in connection with allegations of objectionable remarks by the Congress leader against Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the latter’s grandnephew Satyaki Savarkar has alleged. The summons was issued on Friday against Rahul who will be present in court on October 23.
In the first week of April 2023, Satyaki Savarkar-the grandson of one of Vinayak Savarkar’s brothers-submitted a complaint against Gandhi accusing him of defamation of Vinayak Savarkar. The complaint alleged that Gandhi had spoken disparagingly of Savarkar while addressing a gathering organized by the Overseas Congress on March 5, 2023.
“Rahul Gandhi, for reasons best known to him, has been repeatedly defaming and abusing Savarkar on various occasions for over many years. On one such occasion, March 5, 2023, when Rahul Gandhi was addressing a gathering of the Overseas Congress in the United Kingdom, he intentionally made wild allegations against Savarkar, knowing the same to be untrue, to harm Savarkar’s reputation,” his complaint stated.
It further alleged, “Rahul Gandhi has deliberately made false, malicious and wild allegations against Savarkar, fully knowing the said allegations to be untrue, with the specific objective of harming his reputation and to defame the surname ‘Savarkar’ and to hurt the feelings of the family of the late Savarkar.”
Satyaki further deposed that the statements of the accused before the various courts had caused mental agony to them as well as their family members and prayed before the court to mete out maximum punishment to them and amount as compensation.
It is not the first case of defamation against Gandhi. A court in Nashik has also recently issued summons to him in another case for the same statements against Savarkar made at a press conference in Hingoli and November 2022 speech. The complainant, who is the head of an NGO, had claimed that his statement had harmed the reputation of Savarkar and maligned the image of Savarkar in society.