Pune court asks Rahul Gandhi to appear on August 19 in Savarkar defamation case

An inquiry conducted by the Pune city police in this matter revealed that Gandhi had allegedly defamed Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in his speech before the “Indian Diaspora in London” in March 2023.

Police had submitted the inquiry report on May 27 before JMFC Akshi Jain in Pune, where Savarkar’s kin had filed a criminal defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi.

“Considering the inquiry report submitted by the police and the statements of the witnesses, the JMFC court has ordered Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on August 19,” said advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, who represents Satyaki Savarkar, the complainant in this case.

Satyaki is the grand nephew of Vinayak Savarkar. In April last year, Satyaki had filed a complaint before a magistrate court in Pune, following Rahul Gandhi’s alleged defamatory remarks against Vinayak Savarkar during the function held in London on March 5, 2023.

Along with the complaint, Satyaki had submitted a few news reports as well as a YouTube link of a video of Gandhi’s speech in London as evidence.

According to Satyaki, Rahul Gandhi had in London said that (Vinayak Damodar) Savarkar had written a book in which he stated that he (Savarkar) and five or six of his friends were beating up a Muslim and felt delighted about what was happening.

“Rahul Gandhi then went on to ask whether this was not a cowardly act… But Savarkar has not written any such book as claimed by Rahul Gandhi, nor has such an incident ever happened. Hence I filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in a Pune court,” he said.

In his petition, Satyaki stated, “..He (Gandhi) has intentionally made false, malicious and wild allegations against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, fully knowing the said allegations to be untrue, with the specific objective of harming the reputation and to defame the surname Savarkar…..”

In his criminal defamation application, Satyaki demanded a maximum punishment for the accused under section 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. “Maximum compensation may kindly be imposed upon the accused according to section 357 (Order to pay compensation) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC),” he stated.

After recording statements of Satyaki and two witnesses, the JMFC court had in January 2024 directed the Pune City police to conduct an inquiry into the defamation complaint as per provisions of section 202 of the CrPC and submit its report by February 23. The Vishrambag police station in Pune then initiated an inquiry into this matter.

However, the police sought more time from the court to complete its inquiry. The police told the court in writing on April 2, 2024 that it was not possible to conduct further inquiry into the matter because despite repeated communication, YouTube has not provided any information (profile, IP address, email etc.) regarding the link with the video of Rahul Gandhi’s speech.

Court granted more time to the police. Accordingly, during the next hearing on May 27, the inquiry report signed by assistant police inspector Tukaram Nimbalkar of the Vishrambag police station was submitted before the JMFC court. The report concluded that Rahul Gandhi defamed Vinayak Savarkar during his speech at the London event, by making statements that were not written by Savarkar in any of his books.