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Journalism of Courage
A CD containing the alleged defamatory speech by Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was found to be blank when it was played before a special MP/MLA court in Pune, during the chief examination of Satyaki Savarkar on Thursday.
Satyaki’s lawyer Sangram Kolhatkar then filed an application before the court, seeking a judicial inquiry into how the CD that functioned earlier and submitted before the court in the past as evidence against Rahul Gandhi was now empty.
Satyaki is the grandnephew of freedom fighter and Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar. Satyaki had filed the defamation complaint against Rahul for his alleged objectionable remarks against V D Savarkar during a speech in London on March 5, 2023.
Along with the complaint, Satyaki had then submitted a few news reports as well as a YouTube link of a video of Gandhi’s speech in London as evidence before the magistrate court. Satyaki said he had also submitted a CD containing Rahul Gandhi’s alleged objectionable speech to the court.
Judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Akshi Jain had then passed an order directing the Pune city police to conduct an inquiry in the defamation complaint as per the provisions of section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and submit its report. Police had then sought information from YouTube regarding the link with the video of Rahul Gandhi’s speech. In May 2024, the police submitted the inquiry report saying Rahul Gandhi had defamed V D Savarkar in his speech before the “Indian Diaspora in London” in March 2023.
In September 2024, the case was transferred to the special MP/MLA court in Pune. In July this year, Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty in a defamation case before the special court.
Satyaki’s chief examination began before the special court on November 14. But on Thursday, during his examination, when a CD supposed to be carrying Gandhi’s speech was played, it appeared blank.
Advocate Kolhatkar said, “We have requested the court to conduct a judicial inquiry to know how the CD that was functioning earlier has now become blank.” Kolhatkar also filed an application requesting the court to play the YouTube link on which the alleged defamatory speech was available. Gandhi’s lawyer Milind Pawar objected to it, claiming the online content is not admissible as evidence.
Special judge Amol Shinde too rejected the application saying the URL of the YouTube link is not admissible, as it was not supported by a certificate as per section 65 B of the Indian Evidence act.
Kolhatkar then filed another application to play the two additional CDs submitted to the special court, which were also “verified and accepted by the accused”.
When contacted, Kolhatkar said, “We had legally prepared two more copies of Rahul Gandhi’s defamatory speech from the CD submitted earlier. The two additional CDs were submitted to the special MP/MLA court, of which one was given to Gandhi’s counsel.”
But special judge Shinde rejected the application on Thursday, saying the “complainant had not filed any CD on record for court purposes. He had filed the CD which has been received by the accused”.
Advocate Pawar said, “Lawyer of the complainant sought an adjournment as the CD was found blank before the court. We have requested the court to continue the chief examination of the complainant.” The maatter will now be heard on December 2.
