AMaharashtra court on Saturday granted a permanent exemption to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi from appearing before it. This is related to a defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary.
Bhiwandi First Class Judicial Magistrate C Wadikar, who heard Gandhi’s appeal through his counsel Narayan Iyer said that the Congress leader deserved a lifelong exemption.
Additionally, the court had set June 3 as the day for recording evidence in the defamation complaint filed by local RSS worker Rajesh Kunte.
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Kunte filed a private complaint with the Bhiwandi magistrate’s court in 2014 after witnessing Gandhi’s speech, in which he purportedly accused the RSS of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi. Kunte felt that this statement harmed the RSS’s reputation.
Gandhi appeared in court in June 2018, pleading not guilty.
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“Accused Rahul Rajiv Gandhi is hereby exempted from appearance in the court till the further order passed by the court subject to following conditions,” reads the order, a copy of which was accessed by PTI.
“Accused to undertake that his duly designated advocate punctually and regularly appears before court on each and every scheduled date and conduct the trial in absence of the accused,” says one of the conditions. “Accused to remain present in court as and when directed,” reads another.
Rahul Gandhi, who was recently disqualified as an MP following his conviction in a defamation case by a Surat court, had last year sought exemption from appearance in the Bhiwandi court on the grounds that he was a Delhi resident and Lok Sabha member who had to visit his constituency (Wayanad), attend party work, and travel extensively. Gandhi had urged that he be permitted to be represented in court by his lawyer whenever necessary.
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Kunte recently claimed that just because Gandhi is no longer a legislator, he should not be exempted from the law.
On March 23, a Surat court condemned Gandhi to two years in prison in a criminal defamation action filed against him in 2019 over his remarks about “why all thieves have Modi surname.” The court also gave him bail and postponed his sentence for 30 days so that he may appeal to a higher court. The following day, he was removed from the Lok Sabha.
