The Indian Apex Court has asked the Congress President Rahul Gandhi that he cannot enunciate an organization wholly, and he must apologize for his remarks against the Rashtriya Swayamseva Sangh (RSS).
The Congress Vice President was sued for defamation over his comment that Sangh was behind the assassination of Mahatama Gandhi. Rahul Gandhi has been asked to submit his arguments in the case by July 27th.
Condemning Rahul’s remarks, the Supreme Court has asked him to apologize. “In case you fail to apologise to RSS, you will have to face trial,” the court added.
The Apex Court further said, “You must face trial. Case must be decided on merits, whether what you spoke was for public good or not.
“You can’t make a wholesale denunciation of an organisation. Purpose of law is not to turn citizens into litigants; history is the biggest enemy of privacy.”
In May 2016, the Congress Vice President had moved to the SC to nullify the denunciation case against him.
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The court had reportedly said that the authorities will examine whether the accused (also the petitioner) falls within the territory of cases of defamation.
In 2015, RSS activist Rajesh Kunte had alleged that the Congress leader had told an election rally at Sonale that “People of RSS killed Gandhiji, and it is an irony that Sangh’s supporters (BJP) talk about him today. They were the ones who had opposed Sardar Patel and Gandhiji.”
Rahul’s lawyers have said that it was a malafide complaint and need to be annulled.
Rahul had approached the High Court for the exemption from appearing in the court. He further alleged that the case against him was a malicious part of BJP’s election campaign.
Gandhi’s counsel Harin Ravel argued that his comments were historical facts and they are, in fact, a part of the governmental records as well as a Bombay High Court judgment.