scorecardresearch
Thursday, March 28, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeIndiaGovernanceMaharashtra court frames charges against Rahul Gandhi in RSS defamation case

Maharashtra court frames charges against Rahul Gandhi in RSS defamation case

Follow Us :
Text Size:

The Congress president faces trial in a defamation case filed against him by a RSS worker over his comments accusing the Sangh of killing Mahatma Gandhi.

Thane : Congress president Rahul Gandhi will face trial in a defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker after a magistrate court here today framed charges against him.

Gandhi pleaded not guilty in the case.

Gandhi appeared before civil judge A.I. Sheikh, who read out the charges levelled against him and also the statement of the complainant Rajesh Kunte.

“As per the charge, you (Gandhi) on 6 March 2014, in a rally held for elections at Bhiwandi, Thane defamed the organisation to which the complainant belongs,” the judge said while reading out the charge.

“Your speech, which was telecast on channels and also published in newspapers, damaged the reputation of the complainant and his organisation and you thereby committed an offence under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” he said.

The judge then asked Gandhi, “Do you accept the charges?”, to which he replied”I plead not guilty.”

The court then proceeded to frame charges against the Congress leader under IPC sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation).

Under section 500, a person if found guilty of defamation, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

The court posted the case for next hearing on 10 August.

“On the next day of hearing, the court is likely to pass an order on whether certain documents, including the transcript of the video recording of Gandhi’s speech submitted by the complainant, can be admitted as evidence or not,” Gandhi’s lawyers Narayan Iyer and Kushal Mor said.

Gandhi is not required to appear before the court on the next date of hearing, they said.

The court had on 2 May, asked the Congress leader to appear before it today to record his plea in the defamation case filed by Kunte in 2014.

Kunte had filed the case after watching Rahul Gandhi’s speech at an election rally in which he had alleged that the RSS was behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.

“The RSS people had killed (Mahatma) Gandhi,” the Congress president had allegedly said in the rally.

The court today also allowed an application filed by Rahul Gandhi last month seeking a summons trial, which would mean detailed recording of evidence, instead of a ‘summary trial’.

While trials in such cases are normally held summarily, Rahul Gandhi filed an application last month seeking for it to be conducted as a ‘summons trial’.

“A summary trial is short and will be completed by just submitting the written arguments. We have sought for a summons trial which would go into the in-depth recording of the evidence,” Iyer said.

“The case relates to historical facts and hence, we need to rely on several documents and would like to record the evidence of experts,” he said.

After the court proceedings got over, Kunte said, “I have full faith in the court and I am sure justice will be delivered.”

Rahul Gandhi had earlier moved the Supreme Court seeking quashing of the case.

The apex court had in July 2016 said he should not have resorted to “collective denunciation” of an organisation, and would have to face trial if he did not express regret for his remark.

The Congress leader had declined to accept the suggestion and expressed willingness to face the trial. – PTI

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular