Assam court summons Rahul as accused in defamation case

GUWAHATI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was on Saturday summoned as an accused by a magisterial court here to face trial in a criminal defamation case for

GUWAHATI: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was on Saturday summoned as an accused by a magisterial court here to face trial in a criminal defamation case for his remarks against the RSS over temple entry episode in Barpeta last year.

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Kamrup chief judicial magistrate Sanjoy Hazarika summoned Gandhi on September 21 to face trial under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code which states, whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend which may extend to two years or with fine or with both.

Earlier on August 2, the court had deferred for Saturday its decision whether to issue summons against the Congress vice-president as an “accused” in the criminal defamation case here.

An RSS volunteer Anjan Bora had filed the case against Gandhi in the CJM Kamrup court alleging that he had tarnished the organisation’s image by saying that he was not allowed by RSS members to enter Barpeta Satra, a 16th century Vaishnavite monastry, in Assam on December 12, 2015.

Meanwhile, the Congress said this was “classical fascism” at work .“The RSS has a PhD in filing cases as an act of harassment and intimidation. The Congress is not going to be intimidated by all these fascist tactics and whatever maybe their game plan, it will be replied both politically and legally,” party spokesperson Manish Tewari said.