NEW DELHI, Apr 4: The Allahabad High Court on Friday refused to quash summons issued to the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi by a magistrate court in Lucknow in the a VD Savarkar defamation case.
The Bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi noted that Mr Gandhi has the remedy of moving the Sessions Judge under Section 397 of Cr.PC (Section 438 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita). “The inherent powers of this court recognised by Section 482 Cr.P.C. are meant to be invoked to secure the ends of justice. This power is discretionary and this discretion is normally not invoked when the petitioner has got a statutory remedy available to him,” the court said while dismissing Mr Gandhi’s plea.
In his plea, the Congress leader had challenged an order of the trial court summoning him as an accused in December last year, in the defamation case filed by advocate Nripendra Pandey.
The complainant alleged that the Congress leader had made derogatory remarks against Hindutva ideologue Savarkar during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Maharashtra last year. He stated that Mr Gandhi had insulted the great and fearless leader of nationalist ideology who had fought for the freedom of the country.
Mr Gandhi had also challenged an order of the court that allowed a revision plea filed by the complainant against the dismissal of his complaint in June 2023. The trial court, while summoning Mr Gandhi, had observed that he had spread hatred and ill will in society through his speech in which he had said that Savarkar was a servant of the British and that he took a pension from the British.
He faces charges under Section 153A (promoting enmity) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The trial court also imposed a cost of ₹200 on the Congress leader for non-appearance in the case last month.
In January, a special court in Pune had granted bail to Mr Gandhi in a similar case of defamation of VD Savarkar. The MP/MLA court had granted bail to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on a surety bond of ₹25,000 after he appeared before it through video conferencing.
The case was filed on a complaint of the grandnephew of Savarkar and stemmed from a speech Mr Gandhi gave in London in March 2023, where he made certain remarks on the freedom fighter citing a book written by him.
(Manas Dasgupta)
