23
Justice Dutta said that being a responsible leader of the opposition, Gandhi should not have done this as a proper platform exists to raise such questions.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Monday that if you are a true Indian, you will not say anything like this. The court reprimanded Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his alleged derogatory remarks about the Indian Army during his visit to India. However, the apex court has stayed the action initiated in the case against Gandhi in a Lucknow court. A bench of Justice Dipankar Dutta and Justice Augustine George Christ issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case. The bench asked that you are the leader of the opposition. Why don’t you say things in Parliament, why do you have to say on social media? ” The apex court further said how did you know that 2,000 square kilometers have been captured by the Chinese?
A proper platform is present to raise questions: Court
The bench further asked why are you making this statement without any evidence? If you are a true Indian, you will not say that. Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi presented an argument on behalf of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. He said that if the Leader of the Opposition in the democratic country cannot raise issues, then this will be an unfortunate situation. Singhvi said that if he cannot say these things published in the press, then he cannot be the leader of the opposition. On the ‘true Indian’ comment of the bench, Singhvi replied that it is also possible that a true Indian would say that our 20 Indian soldiers were beaten and killed. This is also a matter of concern. The apex court then said that when there is a struggle crossing the border, is the casualties on both sides uncommon? Singhvi said that Gandhi was only talking about expressing concern over proper revelations and suppression of information. Justice Dutta said that being a responsible leader of the opposition, Gandhi should not have done this as a proper platform exists to raise such questions. Agreeing that Gandhi could comment in a better way.
Army accused of derogatory remarks
Singhvi said that the complaint was just an attempt to harass the petitioner. Singhvi cited Section 223 of the Indian Civil Protection Code and said that the pre -hearing of the accused is mandatory before the court took cognizance of the criminal complaint, which was not done in the current case. After this, the apex court issued a notice on the petition seeking a reply in three weeks and stayed the action in the Lucknow trial court. Rahul Gandhi’s petition was rejected by the Allahabad High Court on 29 May. Gandhi challenged the summons order and the complaint and argued that it was motivated and was recorded in a malicious manner. In his petition filed in the court, complainant Uday Shankar Srivastava alleged that during the visit of December 2022, Gandhi made several derogatory comments about the Indian Army in the context of the struggle with the Chinese soldiers. Advocate Pranshu Aggarwal had argued that the allegations against Rahul Gandhi are concocted. It was also argued that Gandhi is not a resident of Lucknow, so he should have investigated the veracity of the allegations before summoning the complaint and he should have been summoned only when the allegations were found to be suitable for prima facie testing.
Also read: Security agency gathered evidence of Pahalgam attack, gesture towards Pak; Learn what you got?
