In 2015, Rahul Gandhi desperately knocked the doors of the Bombay HC to invalidate the case against him. But, Bombay High Court dismissed his petition for quashing a defamation case against him for allegedly blaming RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. Justice ML Tahaliyani rejected Rahul Gandhi’s petition seeking to quash the complaint filed by RSS functionary Rajesh Kunte before a magisterial court in Bhiwandi in Thane district claiming that the Congress leader had said at a rally during last year’s Lok Sabha poll that a worker of the RSS had killed Mahatma Gandhi.
Following the complaint, the magistrate’s court in Bhiwandi initiated proceedings and issued a notice to Rahul directing him to appear before it. The Congress leader then approached the High Court seeking exemption from appearance and quashing of the complaint. Rahul’s lawyers argued that the complaint was motivated and malafide and deserved to be quashed.
However, Rahul Gandhi had also moved to Supreme Court seeking quashing of the case in the year 2016. But the apex court said he should not have resorted to “collective denunciation” of an organization and would have to face trial if he did not express regret for his remark. The Congress chief immediately declined to accept the suggestion and expressed willingness to face the trial.
Section 499 in the Indian Penal Code
499. Defamation.—Whoever, by words either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or having reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter expected, to defame that person. Explanation 1.—It may amount to defamation to impute anything to a deceased person, if the imputation would harm the reputation of that person if living, and is intended to be hurtful to the feelings of his family or other near relatives. Explanation 2.—It may amount to defamation to make an imputation concerning a company or an association or collection of persons as such. Explanation 3.—An imputation in the form of an alternative or expressed ironically, may amount to defamation. Explanation 4.—No imputation is said to harm a person’s reputation, unless that imputation directly or indirectly, in the estimation of others, lowers the moral or intellectual character of that person, or lowers the character of that person in respect of his caste or of his calling, or lowers the credit of that person, or causes it to be believed that the body of that person is in a loathsome state, or in a state generally considered as disgraceful.
Section 500 in the Indian Penal Code
500. Punishment for defamation.—Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or
