Savarkar defamation case: SC quashes Lucknow Court order summoning Rahul

The Supreme Court quashed a Lucknow trial court's order summoning opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case, according to a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu. The court held that the necessary authorization was not obtained in the matter, as stated in the affidavit filed by the complainant. Consequently, the complaint and orders passed by the magistrate were declared invalid.

The defamation case arose from Rahul Gandhi's remarks about VD Savarkar during a rally in Maharashtra's Akola district on November 17, 2022, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra. Rahul Gandhi had claimed in a speech in London in March 2023 that VD Savarkar had written in a book about an incident involving him and his friends beating up a Muslim man, but Rahul denied the allegations, stating that VD Savarkar never wrote about such an episode.