Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was granted bail by a special MP MLA court in Pune in the Savarkar defamation case. He had appeared before the court through video conferencing.

The bail has been granted on a surety bond of Rs 25,000. Senior Congress leader Mohan Joshi stood as surety before the court. Advocate Milind Pawar, representing Gandhi, said the Pune court also granted permanent exemption to the Congress MP from appearing before it. The next hearing in the matter is scheduled for February 18, news agency PTI reported.

The defamation case was filed against Rahul Gandhi by Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar following an alleged objectionable statement by Congress leader against Savarkar during his speech in London in March 2023.

In the speech, the Raebareli MP had allegedly stated that Veer Savarkar had written about an incident in a book where he along with his friends beat up a Muslim man, and that Savarkar felt “happy” about it.

Savarkar’s nephew dismissed these allegations and called them “false, fictitious, and malicious”. He also asserted that VD Savarkar had written anything like this and that such an incident had never occurred. In his complaint, he mentioned that Rahul Gandhi’s statements were damaging to his great-granduncle’s reputation.

Hearing In Another Defamation Case Before Sultanpur Court Postponed To Jan 22

Meanwhile, the hearing of another defamation case against Rahul Gandhi at an MP/MLA court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh was postponed on Friday due to a strike by lawyers, PTI reported. 

The case dates back to 2018 when a local BJP politician Vijay Mishra filed a defamation complaint against Gandhi, alleging that he made objectionable remarks during the Karnataka Assembly elections that hurt him.

When Gandhi failed to appear in the court after a five-year legal process, the presiding judge in December 23 issued a warrant for his appearance. The Congress MP surrendered before the court in February 2024. His statement was recorded on July 26 and he was granted bail on wo bonds of Rs 25,000 each.

During his court appearance, Rahul Gandhi claimed innocence, alleging the charges were politically motivated. The previous hearing on January 2 was deferred as the cross-examination could not be completed.