Savarkar Defamation Case: Rahul Gandhi Tells Court He Faces Threat to Life, Cites Complainant's Lineage
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (August 13) told a Pune court that he faces threat to life in wake of his recent political battles and the lineage of complainant Satyaki Savarkar in the defamation case filed against him.
Gandhi urged the special MP/MLA court, where the defamation case is being heard, to take judicial notice of the matter. Gandhi said that he has 'grave apprehensions' to his safety and to the fairness of proceedings in the case,' reported Bar and Bench.
He also sought "preventive protection" by State.
'Preventive protection is not only prudent but is a constitutional obligation upon the State," it was stated in the application filed through advocate Milind Dattatraya Pawar.
Gandhi said that the application was filed as a 'protective and precautionary measure for safeguarding the fairness, integrity, and transparency of the present proceedings.'
Gandhi's application stated that in a written statement filed on July 29, Satyaki Savarkar had categorically admitted that through his maternal family lineage, he is a direct descendant of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, the principal accused in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The fact that Satyaki Savarkar has also claimed descent from Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was also noted in the application.
"Given the documented history of violent and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant's lineage… there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Shri Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting,' stated the application.
Gandhi's plea said that the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was not an act of impulse; rather it was the calculated outcome of a conspiracy, rooted in a specific ideology, culminating in deliberate violence against an unarmed person.
'In view of the grave history associated with such lineage, the defence harbours a genuine and reasonable apprehension that history must not be permitted to repeat itself,' the submission to the court stated.
The application also spoke about Gandhi's recent political interventions including the August 11 slogan 'Vote Chor Sarkar' in parliament along with the submission of documents alleging electoral irregularities, actions, which he claimed, have triggered hostility from political opponents.
His plea also referred to Gandhi's speech in parliament in which he said, "A true Hindu is never violent. A Hindu cannot spread hatred. The BJP spreads hatred and violence, and you do not represent Hindus.'
Gandhi also said in his submission how immediate press conferences were held by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi who accused him of insulting the Hindu community and lowering the dignity of his position.
The application also cited two public threats, one by Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu calling Gandhi the 'number one terrorist of the country' and another by BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marwah.
The Court will hear the matter next on September 10.
The case pertains to a speech delivered by Gandhi in London in March 2023 in which he had reportedly referred to Savarkar's writings about an incident where Savarkar, along with others, allegedly assaulted a Muslim man – a situation Savarkar supposedly found 'pleasurable.'
Satyaki Savarkar had filed the defamation case against Gandhi in 2023, claiming that no such incident about Savarkar is mentioned in his works.
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