Supreme Court raps Rahul Gandhi over ‘Chinese troops thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal’ remark
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Supreme Court raps Rahul Gandhi over ‘Chinese troops thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal’ remark")
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Photograph: (PTI)
In May, the Allahabad High Court had rejected Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging summons issued by a special court for elected representatives in Lucknow. The Supreme Court pulled up Rahul for his remarks about the Indian Army and said “a true Indian will not say all this”.
The Supreme Court of India rapped Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday over his “Chinese troops are thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh” remark he made during the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. The top court, however, stayed proceedings against him in a criminal defamation case arising from the comment he made in reference to the India-China face-off in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector in December 2022.
A bench of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice AG Masih also took strong exception to the Congress MP’s remarks claiming that 2,000 sq km of Indian territory has since been occupied by China and blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for the “surrender”.
‘If you are a true Indian...’
“How did you get to know that 2,000 sq km of Indian land has been taken over by the Chinese? If you are a true Indian... you won’t say all of this,” Justice Datta said about Gandhi’s remarks.
“Were you there? Do you have any credible material,” the court asked Gandhi.
The apex court questioned Gandhi’s choice of words and the platform he used to make his contentious statement.
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“Why do you have to say this in media or social media posts?” the bench asked
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who was appearing for Rahul Gandhi, countered, “If he can’t say these things... how can he be the Leader of Opposition?”
Justice Datta shot back, “Then why don’t you say such things in Parliament?”
The apex court, however, issued a notice against Gandhi’s plea to quash the case after Singhvi pointed out apparent missteps in the filing of charges, including the police not allowing Gandhi a prior hearing before taking cognisance of a criminal complaint.
The Allahabad High Court had in May rejected Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging a February summons issued by a special court for elected representatives in Lucknow.
Allahabad High Court judge Justice Subhash Vidyarthi overruled Gandhi’s argument that the special court should have verified the allegations before summoning him and observed that the freedom of speech does not include the right to make statements that ‘defame’ the Army.
Gandhi had also argued the charges against him were politically motivated.
The original complaint was filed by one Udai Shanker Srivastava, who alleged that Rahul Gandhi made derogatory remarks about the Army over the clash with the Chinese during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022.
Senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, representing the complainant, opposed the stay and defended the trial court’s decision. The top court, however, said it would hear all objections after three weeks.
