SC to hear plea by Rahul Gandhi against summons in defamation case
Gandhi has challenged the April 4 decision of the high court refusing to set aside the summons issued to him by the trial court in December last year
The Supreme Court will on Friday hear a petition filed by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking quashing of summons issued to him by a Lucknow court on his remarks against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
Gandhi has challenged the April 4 decision of the high court refusing to set aside the summons issued to him by the trial court in December last year on his comments made during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in November 2022 where he is accused of intentionally insulting Savarkar at the rally held in Maharashtra’s Akola district.
The matter is listed before a bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan.
The high court dismissed the Congress leader’s plea on the grounds that he has the remedy of filing a revision against the order of the trial court.
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The high court bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi noted there was no ground for the high court to entertain where Gandhi has an alternate remedy under section 397 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), now replaced by section 438 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The proceedings against Gandhi was initiated on a complaint filed by advocate Nripendra Pandey who alleged that the derogatory remarks made by Gandhi against the Hindutva ideologue had hurt the sentiments of the community. The complaint stated that Gandhi had insulted the great and fearless nationalist leader who fought for the freedom of the country.
