Defamation case against Rahul Gandhi: Blank CD on LoP’s speech shocks court during hearing
Pune: In a dramatic twist during the hearing of the defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, a CD that had been submitted before a Pune MP/MLA Special Court as key evidence was found to be blank when played in court on Thursday.
Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, has been accused of passing derogatory comments on Hindu ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, while speaking at an event in London. A complaint has been filed against Gandhi by Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of Savarkar, in this regard.
The case is being heard by Magistrate Amol Shinde. A sealed CD reportedly containing a recording of Gandhi’s speech in London had been submitted earlier as part of the evidence, according to a report in India Today. The CD had also been played in court at cognizance stage, after which, the court issued summons to the LoP.
On Thursday, however, during Satyaki Savarkar’s examination-in-chief, the CD was opened and played, only for the court to find that it contained no data.
The unexpected development shocked the complainant’s Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, who pointed out that the CD had previously been played before the court and accepted as the basis for issuing summons to Gandhi. The lawyer requested the court to view the speech on YouTube directly.
Gandhi’s advocate Milind Dattatray Pawar objected strongly on grounds that online content was not automatically admissible and the objection was upheld on legal grounds by the magistrate.
The complainant’s lawyer later produced two other CDs, urging the Pune court to check them in open, to which, Pawar objected and the court again dismissed the plea by the advocate.
Kolhatkar requested for adjournment of hearing, seeking to challenge the rejections and to initiate a judicial inquiry regarding the CD turning blank.
While Pawar again challenged the request, the court agreed to list the case for further hearing.
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Electorate in 9 states, UTs shrink by 1.70 crore after SIR
New Delhi (PTI): Voter base in nine states and Union territories has shrunk by more than 1.70 crore following the publication of final electoral rolls as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), according to official data.
The data shared by the chief electoral officers of Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa and Kerala on Saturday showed that their combined voter base stood at over 21.45 crore before the SIR exercise began on October 27 last year.
It shrunk to 19.75 crore after publication of their final electoral rolls this week, a net change of over 1.70 crore electors.
While the exercise, which kept the Election Commission in the spotlight, has been completed in Bihar, it is currently underway in 12 states and Union territories covering nearly 60 crore electors.
The remaining 40 crore electors will be covered in 17 states and five Union territories.
In Assam, a "special revision", instead of SIR, was completed on February 10.
Due to a variety of reasons, the SIR in the nine states and three Union territories have seen frequent tweaking in schedules.
As in Bihar, political parties have approached the Supreme Court challenging the exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
