SC quashes defamation case against Rahul Gandhi

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a criminal defamation complaint against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, ruling the necessary authorization had not been granted, according to an Allahabad High Court bench presided over by Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu. The ruling came during hearings of Gandhi's challenge to proceedings initiated by a lower court following allegations by a subordinate court.

The complaint alleged that Gandhi had intentionally insulted Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in Maharashtra's Akola district on November 17, 2022. Advocate Nripendra Pandey had filed the claim, contending the remarks were part of a deliberate effort to defame Savarkar.

Gandhi contested the magistrate's summons, arguing against the continuation of the criminal proceedings. His lawyer had asked the court for the required sanction documentation, which was subsequently discovered to be missing. With this revelation, the Supreme Court declared the complaint and the magistrate's orders invalid.

The defamation case also involved Satyaki Savarkar, grandnephew of Savarkar, who filed a separate complaint in 2023, alleging that Gandhi had claimed Savarkar wrote that he and five or six friends had beaten up a Muslim man and that Savarkar was pleased about it. This claim was denied by Savarkar. The proceedings had reached the Allahabad High Court's Lucknow bench, which on April 4, 2025, allowed Gandhi to seek a revision of the lower court's decision, but declined to intervene thereafter.