Court seeks information from Youtube about Rahul Gandhi’s alleged defamatory speech on Savarkar

Satyaki had then through his lawyer Sangram Kolhatkar filed an application before the court saying he specifically relied upon the YouTube link containing the offending speech by the accused (Rahul).

The application stated that a CD containing the YouTube video, along with certificate under Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act, was also produced before the court. “The contents in the YouTube link and CD were verified by the court and the Pune police. But during the chief examination of the complainant, the CD did not play before the court due to “technical issues for reasons unknown….”, it mentioned.

Advocate Kolhatkar submitted that it was essential to secure Rahul Gandhi’s allegedly objectionable content from the original source “YouTube LLC (Google Inc.)” as evidence.

Kolhatkar prayed the court to direct “YouTube LLC/Google..” to produce the Rahul Gandhi’s original video available on the YouTube link titled “Indians abroad and shining examples of our culture of respect I Interaction with Diaspora in London”, dated March 5, 2023, published on “official YouTube channel of the accused Rahul Gandhi”.

The video was sought along with metadata like “Upload date and time, URL and unique video ID, hash value/digital signature, server logs relevant to authenticity and integrity, any copies, back ups or archived versions of the said video.”

Advocate Kolhatkar said, “The court has allowed the application and directed Youtube to produce information whether Rahul Gandhi author’s the video in question, available on its link, along with other technical details. Summons will be served to Youtube authorities for this purpose.”

Meanwhile, Satyaki also submitted another application before the court with two pen drives carrying the alleged objectionable video of Rahul Gandhi, with certificate under Section 65 B of the Indian Evidence Act.

Advocate Kolhatkar said the court has allowed this application too for accepting the pen drives. “The videos in the two pen drives would be played before the court during the next hearing on December 31. Then, one pen drive will be given to the accused and the other will be kept in the court’s custody as evidence,” he said.

Rahul’s lawyer Milind Pawar had opposed both applications filed by Satyaki, for seeking information about Rahul Gandhi’s video from Youtube and accepting the pen drives as evidence. “The MP/MLA court has allowed the two applications. We plan to challenge the court’s orders,” said advocate Pawar.

According to Satyaki, Rahul mentioned in his speech that Savarkar had written a book in which he stated that he (Savarkar) and five to six of his friends were beating up a Muslim and were “delighted” about it. Satyaki claimed that V D Savarkar had not written any such book as claimed by Rahul, nor has such an incident ever happened.