HC bins Rahul's plea to junk proceedings in Savarkar case

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Friday dismissed Rahul Gandhi's plea to quash summons and proceedings in a defamation case over his alleged hate speech against Savarkar.

The case stems from Rahul's 2022 remark in Maharashtra, calling Savarkar a "servant of British" who "received a pension from them." The Lucknow court fined him Rs 200 on March 5, 2025, for skipping a hearing.

Rahul's petition under section 482 CrPC challenged two court orders - one by the MP/MLA court on October 3, 2024, and another by the ACJM III on December 12, 2024 - summoning him under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity) and 505 (public mischief).

Advocate Nripendra Pandey had initially filed a complaint, dismissed on June 14, 2023, but revived after the MP/MLA court allowed a revision.

Dismissing Rahul's application, Justice Subhash Vidyarthi ruled that he could seek criminal revision under sections 397/399 CrPC. "HC did not indulge in the case's merits," Rahul's counsel said.