Pune: Citing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s high-level security and his status of being the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, a Pune court on Tuesday (February 18) granted him permanent exemption from appearance in a defamation case filed against him over his alleged objectionable remarks on Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The court had last month granted bail to Gandhi in the case after the Congress leader appeared before the court virtually.
Court order came on a plea moved by Gandhi’s lawyer
Amol Shinde, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) presiding over the special court for MP/MLA granted Gandhi permanent exemption from appearance on an application moved by his lawyer before the special court.
The judge took into consideration that Gandhi is protected by Z+ security, he is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, he has to attend many programmes and there are considerable expenses on his security during his visit to Pune.
What did the court say?
“Considering the facts (cited by Gandhi’s lawyer) this court finds that the accused (Gandhi) is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He has to attend many programmes…. he is protected by Z+ security. The expenses of security are considerable. Due to law and order issue, this court finds that the accused should be granted permanent exemption from appearing in this case,” the judge said in the order, news agency PTI reported.
Grandnephew of Savarkar filed complaint against Gandhi
Savarkar’s grandnephew has filed the complaint against Gandhi accusing him of repeatedly defaming and abusing VD Savarkar on several occasions for over many years. He has said that when Gandhi was addressing a gathering of the Overseas Congress in the United Kingdom on March 5, 2023, he intentionally made wild allegations against VD Savarkar, knowing the same to be untrue, to harm Savarkar’s reputation.
“Rahul Gandhi has intentionally made false, malicious and wild allegations against Savarkar (VD 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,” the complaint said.
