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The Supreme Court on Friday (April 25) stayed an Allahabad High Court order that had declined to quash summons issued to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case related to his remarks on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The apex court also issued a caution to Gandhi, warning him against making similar statements in the future, failing which he could face consequences. Justice Dipankar Datta, who was part of the bench hearing the matter, asked if Mahatma Gandhi could be called the servant of the Britishers merely because he used the term "your faithful servant" in his letters to the Viceroy.
"Does your client know that his grandmother (Indira Gandhi), when she was the Prime Minister, also sent a letter praising the gentleman (Savarkar), the freedom fighter?" Justice Datta asked Senior Advocate AM Singhvi, who was representing Gandhi. "Let him not make irresponsible statements about the freedom fighters..
.this is not the way you treat our freedom fighters. When you don't know anything of the history or geography of India.
.." the Court observed.
The defamation case arises from Gandhi's comments made during a Bharat Jodo Yatra rally in Akola, Maharashtra, on November 17, 2022, where he allegedly made disparaging remarks about Savarkar. Advocate Nripendra Pandey, who filed the complaint, accused the Congress leader of deliberately insulting the freedom fighter. Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had moved the Supreme Court after the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court refused to intervene in the matter earlier this month.
On April 4, the high court had said Gandhi could pursue a revision petition before the sessions court instead, deeming it premature to quash the summons at this stage. Also Read: SC asks Shivraj Chouhan, Congress MP Vivek Tankha to amicably settle defamation case.
