Thane Court Asks Digvijaya Singh For Written Apology For The Now Deleted Tweet Against Former RSS Chief Golwalkar

The Court of Civil Judge Senior Division in Thane, Maharashtra has asked Congress leader Digvijay Singh to file a written apology over his tweet against former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghchalak(Chief) Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar.

The Court issued the direction yesterday in a Suit filed by one Vivek Shashikant Champanerkar of Thane, who claims to be a Swayamsevak (volunteer) of the RSS, seeking removal of the offending post from X (Twitter) and compensation of Rs.1.

Yesterday, Singh's Advocate told the Court that the tweet concerned has been deleted and that there is no reason to continue prosecuting the suit. However, the Counsel for the plaintiff did not agree to close the case without a written apology. That is when the Court passed the direction.

The Suit was filed in September last year after Rajyasabha MP Digvijay Singh tweeted, “Guru Golwalkar Ji ke daliton peechdon aur mussalmaano ke liye va rashtriya jal jungle va jameen par adhikaar par kya vichaar the avashya jaaniye”. The post was accompanied by an image of the Golwalkar with text, “main saari zindagi angrezon ki gulami karne ke liye tayyar hoon lekin jo daliton peechdon aur mussalmaano ko barabari ka adhikaar deti ho aisi azadi mujhe nahi chahiye”.

It was contended in the suit that the attribution to Golwalkar is false and bogus and that such words were never uttered by Golwalkar. The plaintiff said that the words came from the "wild imagination" of defendant Sigvijay Singh.

The plaintiff had contended in the Suit filed through Advocates Aditya Mishra and Surabhi Pandey that Singh posted such allegations with a definite intention to promote hatred and defame the RSS in the eyes of the common man.

"The plaintiff is entitled to recover the amount of Rs. 1/- from the defendant towards the compensation for the loss and damages to his social reputation and status as RSS Swayamsevak which is defamed by the defamatory post over ‘X’ formerly known as twitter account made by the defendant and the defendant is liable to compensate to the plaintiff for the said amount", the plaint reads.

The plaintiff has also prayed for a permanent injunction restraining the defendant from spreading misinformation regarding the RSS or its 2nd Sarsanghchalak Golwalkar.

The case has been adjourned to January 29.