Probe if there is material to proceed against Gandhis: Court

The Bhoiwada Magistrate court has ordered the Shivaji Park police to probe if there is enough material to prosecute Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi and their party for calling Vinayak Savarkar a ‘traitor.’

The court has asked the police to submit a report on the probe at the earliest.

This comes after the grandson of the Hindu extremist, Ranjit Savarkar, moved the court by filing a private complaint against Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. He has urged the court to prosecute the motherson duo and also the Congress party for defaming his grandfather.

In his plaint, Ranjit has cited the tweets posted by Rahul and also the Congress party on March 5, 22 and 23, 2016.

“The official Twitter account of the Congress published four tweets in pictorial forms, along with comments, calling Savarkar a traitor,” Ranjit’s plaint read.

According to Ranjit, the tweets in question, also stated that Savarkar had begged for mercy from the British government (when he was lodged in Cellular Jail in Andaman) and that he wanted to be a slave of the then British Raj.

Ranjit has argued that by posting such tweets, the party and its leaders have attempted to lower the ‘moral and intellectual’ character of his grandfather.

Having perused the plaint, the court has ordered the Shivaji Park police station, to conduct a thorough inquiry under the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and submit a report.

As per the order, the police will have to probe and ascertain if there is enough material to proceed against Gandhis.

It may be noted that this isn’t a first defamation case against Rahul. In fact he has been facing a series of defamation suits for his statements against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also against prime minister Narendra Modi.