Defamation case: Court rejects Rahul's plea seeking info on Savarkar grand-nephew's maternal lineage

Pune: A court on Saturday rejected Rahul Gandhi's application seeking details of the maternal lineage of Satyaki Savarkar, the grand-nephew of V D Savarkar, over his defamation complaint filed against the Congress leader for his alleged objectionable remarks against the Hindutva ideologue.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde dismissed the application, observing that the case pertains to an alleged defamatory speech made by Gandhi in London and not to the family tree of late Himani Ashok Savarkar, the mother of Satyaki Savarkar.

Himani Savarkar was the daughter of Gopal Vinayak Godse, the younger brother of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.

Gandhi, through his counsel Milind Pawar, had submitted that while the complainant had provided details of his paternal ancestry while filing the complaint, his maternal lineage had not been disclosed. The defence argued that this information was crucial for the hearing.

"The case is not related to or disputed on the family tree of late Himani Ashok Savarkar. Therefore, this court does not find any merit in the application of the accused. There is also no need to send the matter for further investigation," the court said in its order.

Meanwhile, the court also rejected Satyaki Savarkar's application seeking cancellation of Gandhi's bail, stating that the grounds cited were not sufficient to warrant such action.

Savarkar had alleged in his plea that the case is already posted for recording of plea of the accused since January 10, 2025, but the latter is not recording his plea on one pretext or another and adopting delaying tactics.

The judge noted that Gandhi had been granted bail with a permanent exemption from personal appearance and there was no evidence to suggest that he was deliberately delaying the proceedings.

"It is not found that the accused is prolonging the matter. The grounds mentioned in the application are not justified to take strict action against the accused. Hence, the application is liable to be rejected," the order stated.

Satyaki Savarkar had filed a defamation complaint against Gandhi over his speech in London in March 2023, wherein the Congress leader allegedly claimed that V D Savarkar had written in a book that he and a group of friends once beat up a Muslim man, and that Savarkar felt happy about it.

The complainant contended that Savarkar never made such claims and termed Gandhi's remarks "fictitious, false, and malicious".