Rahul Gandhi pleads ‘not guilty’ in RSS defamation case

BHIWANDI: A local court here on Tuesday framed charges against Congress president Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case filed by RSS worker Rajesh Kunte. According to Kunte’s lawyer Nandu Fadke, the charges were framed under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Rahul pleaded not guilty. The court set August 10 as the next date of hearing. The judge read out the charges and quoted Rahul as saying at a rally in Bhiwandi in 2014, “RSS ke logon ne Mahatma Gandhi ko goli maari aur Sardar Patel ne likha hai.” When the judge asked Rahul, “Do you plead guilty?” he replied, “I plead not guilty.” The judge also accepted Rahul’s lawyer Kushal Mor’s plea for a summons trial instead of a summary one.

“Summary trial is short and will be completed by just submitting written arguments. We have sought a summons trial, which would go into indepth recording of evidence, and it has been accepted by court,” said Mor. The reason Rahul’s lawyer wants a detailed full-fledged trial with recording of witness statements and evidence is that the matter in question is a “matter of historical and academic importance.”

Kunte had filed the case after Rahul’s speech at a Lok Sabha poll rally in 2014 in which the Congress leader had alleged that the RSS was behind Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and that it had also opposed Sardar Patel.

Rahul had earlier moved Supreme Court seeking quashing of the case. The apex court however said in July 2016 that the Congress leader should not have resorted to “collective denunciation” of an organisation and would have to face trial if he did not express regret for his remark. Rahul then expressed willingness to face trial.

Addressing the media after leaving Bhiwandi court, Rahul accused the government of filing cases against him but not providing answers on key issues such as petrol and diesel prices, unemployment and protection of farmers. “They keep putting cases on me. They can keep doing so, it doesn’t matter. This is my fight for ideology. We will fight them and win,” he said.