NEW DELHI: A Lucknow court has summoned the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in connection to a defamation case regarding derogatory remarks he made about Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Maharashtra’s Akola in November 2022.
The court found that Congress leader’s speech and distributed pamphlets, at a press conference, where he said that Savarkar was a servant of the British and received pension from them, spread hatred and ill will in society.
The court has instructed him to appear on January 10, 2025, to face charges under Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code.
Advocate Nripendra Pandey filed the complaint, alleging that Gandhi, with the intention of spreading hatred, called Savarkar a British servant and pension beneficiary.
The plea said, “Kantiveer Damodar, the great leader of the nationalist ideology, was a fearless freedom fighter in the history of independence, who endured the inhuman atrocities of the British to free Mother India from their slavery, and Gandhi insulted Savarkar ji using indecent words and made hateful utterances to spread inferiority complex towards Savarkar ji.”