Prima facie truth in complaint accusing Rahul Gandhi of defaming Savarkar: Pune cops tell court
Pune, May 28: The Pune police have said there is prima facie truth in a complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi by V D Savarkar's grandnephew who had accused the Congress leader of defaming the Hindutva ideologue in a speech made in London in 2023.
The police stated this in an enquiry report submitted on Monday in the court of judicial magistrate (first class) Akshi Jain, said advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, who represents Satyaki Ashok Savarkar, the complainant.
Kolhatkar said the court may issue a notice to Rahul Gandhi seeking his appearance.
Satyaki Savarkar had said his lawyers moved the city court with a complaint under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500 (defamation) in April last year.
The court had asked the Vishrambaug police to verify the proof submitted by Satyaki Savarkar and submit a report by May 27.
"The Vishrambaug police stated that Satyaki Savarkar had filed a complaint in the court last April accusing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of making false claims about the late revolutionary (V D Savarkar) in a speech made in London in March 2023," said Kolhatkar.
As per the complaint, Rahul Gandhi claimed in his speech that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.
Satyaki Savarkar said no such incident ever took place, and V D Savarkar never wrote any such thing anywhere, the complaint stated, terming Rahul Gandhi's allegation as fictitious, false and malicious.
"The Vishrambaug police submitted a report on Monday and told the court that in their probe, it has been revealed that V D Savarkar had not written about such incident in any of his books but despite that Gandhi made that kind of remarks during his speech in London in March 2023 and defamed Savarkar," said Kolhatkar.
The police stated prima facie there is a truth in the complaint filed by Satyaki Savarkar that Gandhi defamed V D Savarkar in his speech.
When contacted, assistant police inspector Tukaram Nimbalkar confirmed the report was submitted in the court.
Notably, a Surat metropolitan court in March 2023 convicted Rahul Gandhi of criminal defamation for his 2019 remark, "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?", and sentenced him to two years in jail.
A sessions court granted him bail in April last year.
The Supreme Court in August last year stayed his conviction in the defamation case.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
