SC quashes defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi for remarks about VD Savarkar

The Supreme Court on Friday quashed a criminal complaint against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for remarks he allegedly made about Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar in November 2022, reported Bar and Bench.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu noted that in the Uttar Pradesh government’s affidavit, there was “no disclosure of sanction [for prosecution] having been granted”.

The complaint was filed by lawyer Nripendra Pandey, who alleged that the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha had said during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in November 2022 that Savarkar was a British servant who received a pension from colonial authorities.

In June 2023, an additional chief judicial magistrate dismissed Pandey’s complaint, which led to him challenging the order before the sessions court. The sessions court allowed the plea and remanded it back to the Lucknow magistrate court.

The sessions court summoned Rahul Gandhi in December 2024. The Congress leader had challenged the order before the High Court, which refused to set aside the summons on April 4, 2025.

Gandhi had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court against this.

On Wednesday, the court held that without the prosecution sanction from the Uttar Pradesh government, “the complaint and orders passed by the magistrate stand quashed”, reported Live Law.

In April 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the criminal defamation proceedings against the Congress...

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