New Delhi: The Supreme Court today stayed all trial court proceedings against Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case filed against him in Maharashtra. The apex court also exempted Rahul Gandhi from appearing before the trial court in Maharashtra in connection with the case. Rahul, in his petition, had challenged Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
The Congress leader had moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the Bombay High Court order dismissing his plea for quashing the defamation case filed against him for allegedly blaming the RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
Interestingly, similar petitions seeking decriminalisation of defamation had been filed by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. The Supreme Court has tagged those petitions with that of Rahul. The next date of hearing in the apex court has been set as July 8.
An RSS activist, Rajesh Kunte, had alleged that the Congress leader had accused the saffron outfit of killing Mahatma Gandhi at a rally in the run-up to last year’s Lok Sabha polls. According to the RSS activist, the Congress vice president had told an election rally at Sonale on March 6, 2014 that “RSS people killed Gandhiji”. He had further accused Gandhi of trying to tarnish the reputation of the Sangh through his speech.
Bureau Report
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