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Rejecting Gandhi’s plea, Justice Vidyarthi said the right to free speech does not include the freedom to make statements which are defamatory to the Indian Army
Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi (Image/Sansad TV)
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday made a strong observation against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for his alleged derogatory remarks against the Indian Army.
A single-judge bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi was hearing a plea filed by the Congress leader against a summoning order issued by a Lucknow court in connection with his alleged derogatory remarks against the Indian Army during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022.
Rejecting Gandhi’s plea, Justice Vidyarthi said the right to free speech does not include the freedom to make statements which are defamatory to any person or defamatory to the Indian Army, the Bar & Bench reported.
During the hearing on Thursday, the Allahabad High Court dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s petition. However, the detailed order was released on Wednesday.
Gandhi had challenged the summoning order and the complaint arguing that it was motivated and lodged in a mala fide manner.
During the Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 16, 2022, Gandhi said “Chinese soldiers are beating up Indian Army personnel in Arunachal Pradesh.”
“People will ask about Bharat Jodo Yatra, here and there, Ashok Gahlot and Sachin Pilot
and whatnot. But they will not ask a single question about China capturing 2000 square kilometers of Indian territory, killing 20 Indian soldiers and thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh,” he had said.
In his plea filed in a court in Lucknow, complainant Udai Shanker Srivastava alleged that during the December 2022 Yatra, Gandhi made several derogatory remarks about the Indian Army in the context of the conflict with Chinese soldiers. The lower court then summoned Gandhi as an accused for facing trial.
Gandhi’s advocate Pranshu Agarwal had argued that the allegations appeared to be fabricated just by reading the complaint. It was also argued that Gandhi is not a resident of Lucknow, so before summoning him on this complaint, the lower court should have investigated the veracity of the allegations and he should have been summoned only if the allegations were prima facie found to be fit for trial.
(With PTI inputs)
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter –twitter.com/saurabhkverma19
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