2 days ago
Freedom of speech doesn't allow freedom to make defamatory remarks against Army: Allahabad HC rejects Rahul's plea
THE ALLAHABAD High Court has rejected a petition filed by Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to quash summons against him for alleged derogatory remarks, saying that 'right to freedom of speech and expression does not extend to making defamatory statements against the Army.'
Gandhi made the alleged remarks during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022.
A bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the order on a petition filed by Gandhi challenging the validity of an order passed by the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, summoning him to face trial for the offence under Section 500 of the Penal Code.
The applicant also sought quashing of the entire proceedings of the aforesaid complaint.
'No doubt, Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech and expression, this freedom is subject to the reasonable restrictions and it does not include the freedom to make statements which are defamatory to any person or defamatory to the Indian Army,' the court said.
'At this stage, while examining the validity of the summoning order, this court is not required to go into the merits of the rival claims and that exercise would have to be taken by the trial court after the parties have availed the opportunity to lead evidence in support of their respective claim / defence,' the court said in its order.
'In view of the foregoing discussion, I am of the considered view that the trial court has rightly arrived at the decision to summon the applicant to face trial for the offence under Section 500 IPC after taking into consideration all the relevant facts and circumstances of the case and after satisfying himself that a prima facie case for trial of the applicant is made out. The impugned summoning order dated 11.02.2025 passed by the trial court does not suffer from any illegality warranting interference by this Court in exercise of its inherent powers. The application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. lacks merits and the same is dismissed,' the court added.
The defamation complaint against Gandhi is filed by 'Udai Shankar Srivastava, who has retired from the post of Director in Border Roads Organisation, which position is equivalent to the post of Colonel in Indian Army, stated that alleged derogatory remarks was made by him [Gandhi] on December 16, 2022 during during his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in the presence of mediapersons and a large gathering of public regarding a face-off that took place between the Indian Army and the Chinese Army at the border of India in Arunachal Pradesh on December 9, 2022.'
According to the complaint, Gandhi purportedly said at the time, 'People will ask about Bharat Jodo Yatra, here and there, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot and what not. But they will not ask a single question about China capturing 2000 square km of Indian territory, killing 20 Indian soldiers and thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. But the Indian press doesn't ask a question to them about this. Isn't it true? The nation is watching all this. Don't pretend that people don't know…'
The complainant also claimed stated that the aforesaid statement given by the applicant is 'false and baseless' and it was given with an intention of demoralising the Army and to damage the faith of the country's population in the Army.
