Defamation Case Filed By RSS Worker Against Rahul Gandhi To Be Heard On November 13
|The hearing of the defamation complaint filed against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by an RSS worker from Bhiwandi in Thane district has been fixed on November 13. The criminal defamation case filed by RSS worker Rajesh Kunte is regarding a speech given by Rahul Gandhi at an election rally in Bhiwandi in 2014.
The counsel for Rahul Gandhi has said that the hearing in the 2014 case was scheduled before the Court in Bhiwandi town on October 16. As the Bombay High Court had declared October 16 as a holiday, all cases listed for hearing on that day were shifted to November 13, he said.
Speaking at the rally, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the RSS was behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi. Kunte has alleged that he has been defamed by Rahul Gandhi for being an RSS worker. Kunte had termed the Congress leader's remarks with respect to Mahatma Gandhi and the RSS as provocative and objectionable and filed a complaint alleging defamation at the Bhiwandi Court. Rahul Gandhi has appeared before the Court multiple times, and during one of the hearings pleaded not guilty in the case. Later, the Court framed charges against him. The attempt by Rahul Gandhi to get the case quashed from the Bombay High Court had failed.
Gandhi has been facing defamation cases at Surat and Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The BJP MLA Purnesh Modi has filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi for his alleged defamatory remarks on PM Narendra Modi's surname during his election rally in Karnataka. He had appeared before a Magistrate Court in Surat in June this year. Another case filed by BJP councilor Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt before Magistrate Court at Ahmedabad against Gandhi is for calling the then BJP President Amit Shah a murder accused during his election speech at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.
Ajay Patel, the Chairman of the Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank, has filed two separate defamation cases against Gandhi and the Congress General Secretary Randeep Surjewala for their statements alleging that the bank was involved in swapping scrapped currency notes of Rs745.58 crore during monetization in 2016. Rahul Gandhi had tweeted the allegation while Surjewala had issued a press statement.
With PTI Inputs