Plea about ‘threat’ to Rahul Gandhi filed without his consent, to be withdrawn: lawyer

Pawar said that the earlier submission, made during the regular hearing in the afternoon and known in court procedure as a “Pursis”, had been drafted without prior discussion with Gandhi

Just hours after a plea was submitted in a Pune court citing a possible threat to Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi from those following the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, his lawyer clarified that it had been filed without Gandhi’s approval, and would be withdrawn.

The Pune court has already granted bail to Gandhi in the defamation case, and the trial is yet to start. (HT FILE)

Advocate Milind Pawar, who represents Gandhi in a defamation case filed by Savarkar’s grand-nephew Satyaki Savarkar, said on Wednesday evening that a fresh application for withdrawal would be moved before Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde on Thursday.

Pawar said that the earlier submission, made during the regular hearing in the afternoon and known in court procedure as a “Pursis”, had been drafted without prior discussion with Gandhi.

“The contents of the ‘pursis’ were drafted by me without consulting my client Shri Rahul Gandhi. My client has taken strong exception to the filing, and expressed disagreement with its contents,” the lawyer said in a press statement issued late in the evening.

The application filed before magistrate Shinde had claimed that Satyaki Savarkar had acknowledged being maternally related to Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, both principal accused in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. It also referred to Rahul Gandhi’s role as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, recent press conferences alleging electoral malpractice by the Election Commission of India, and a heated parliamentary exchange between Gandhi and the Prime Minister on the subject of Hindutva.

Against this backdrop, the application indicated that individuals connected with Savarkar’s ideology or lineage might bear hostility towards Gandhi, creating a “reasonable apprehension” of harm, wrongful implication, or other targeting.

“In light of the documented history of violent and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant’s lineage, and considering the prevailing political climate, there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting by persons subscribing to the ideology of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar,” the application stated.

The Pune court has already granted bail to Gandhi in the defamation matter, and the trial is yet to start. The case stems from Satyaki Savarkar’s allegation that Gandhi, in a March 2023 speech in London, falsely attributed to VD Savarkar an account in which he claimed to have assaulted a Muslim man and felt pleased about it.

Calling the plea a delaying tactic, Satyaki Savarkar’s counsel, advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, questioned why it had been filed in the first place. “This is nothing but an attempt to stall proceedings by making frivolous claims,” he said.