Supreme Court reprimands Rahul Gandhi for his remark on Chinese troops beating Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh
New Delhi: The Supreme Court slapped Rahul Gandhi hard on Monday while also halting the criminal defamation lawsuit that stemmed from his remark that “Chinese troops are thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh” when he was on the “Bharat Jodo Yatra.” The remark was made in regard to the December 2022 India-China confrontation in the Tawang area of Arunachal Pradesh.
A bench consisting of Justice AG Masih and Justice Dipankar Datta strongly objected to the comments.
The Congress MP further accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his administration of causing the “surrender” and said that China has now captured 2,000 square kilometers of Indian land.
How did you learn that the Chinese had seized 2,000 square kilometers of Indian territory? Regarding Mr. Gandhi’s comments, Justice Datta said, “If you are a true Indian… you won’t say all of this.”
“Did you attend? The court questioned Mr. Gandhi, “Do you have any reliable material?”
Senior counsel Abhishek Singhvi, who was representing the Congress leader, said, “If he can’t say these things… how can he be the Leader of Opposition?”
“Then why don’t you say such things in Parliament?” Justice Datta said.
However, the Supreme Court rejected Mr. Gandhi’s request to have the lawsuit dismissed.
This came after Mr. Singhvi brought attention to alleged errors in the charges’ filing, such as the police’s refusal to provide Mr. Gandhi a hearing before considering a criminal complaint.
Rahul Gandhi’s appeal against a February summons to a special court for elected officials in Lucknow was denied by the Allahabad High Court in May.
Judge Subhash Vidyarthi of the Allahabad High Court rejected Mr. Gandhi’s claim that the special court ought to have confirmed the accusations prior to calling him, noting that the right to free speech does not extend to the ability to say things that “defame” the Army.
Additionally, Mr. Gandhi has maintained that the accusations against him were driven by politics.
Rahul Gandhi was called before the special court to stand trial as an accused person.
Udai Shanker Srivastava first filed the complaint, alleging that Rahul Gandhi had disparaged the Army in December 2022 due to the conflict with the Chinese.
After repeatedly criticizing Mr. Gandhi for his comments, the governing Bharatiya Janata Party accused him of being “perpetually confused” and accused him of wanting India to “surrender before China…in the same way during his party’s government.”