A magistrate's court in Bhoiwada has ordered the police to inquire whether there are sufficient grounds to proceed in a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and the office-bearers of the All India Congress Committee for allegedly defamatory tweets by the Congress on Hindutva icon 'Veer' Savarkar.
The case was filed by a grand-nephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Ranjit Savarkar. "Rahul Gandhi's comments are an insult to our ancestors... an insult to the great men of the country. Rahul must be punished for his deeds," said Ranjit. "The court has ordered Dadar police to call Rahul (if the need arises)."
The Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate ordered Shivaji Nagar police station, where the complaint was lodged in 2016, to conduct an inquiry under Section 202 of the CrPC, meant for postponement of summoning the accused in court. It is exercised when an accused resides beyond the territorial jurisdiction of the court.
In March 2016, Congress' official Twitter handle called Savarkar a "traitor". Another tweet said he had "begged for mercy" from the British government and that he wanted to be "a slave in British Raj".
The tweets referred to the clemency petitions Savarkar made to the British government while he served time in an Andaman jail as a political prisoner. The complaint said the tweets distorted historical facts about Savarkar and his freedom struggle. Sonia and Rahul Gandhi were made accused in the case as they were then the president and vice-president of the party. The complaint was registered in Mumbai as Ranjit said he read the tweets in the city as he was its resident.
Advocate Sumesh Panjwani said that if the police inquiry report will tell whether the complaint merits summons; or else the court can dismiss it.
