The Allahabad High Court on Friday refused to set aside a Lucknow court order summoning leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi for making allegedly derogatory remarks against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar during his 2022 Bharat Jodo yatra rally. .Justice Subhash Vidyarthi refused to entertain Gandhi's plea after observing that Gandhi has the option to approach the Sessions Judge with a plea under Section 397 (review records of lower court) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. .Advocates Pranshu Agrawal, Mohammed Samar Ansari and Mohd Yasir Abbasi appeared for Gandhi..The summons order was passed by a Magistrate court in December last year. In the order, the trial court observed that Gandhi had said that Savarkar was a British servant who received a pension.These remarks had spread hatred and ill-will in society, the trial court had observed. Therefore, the trial court found a prima facie case against Gandhi and directed him to appear before it. Subsequently, Gandhi approached the High Court challenging the summoning order.The High Court has now said that Gandhi has to approach the sessions court..Gandhi is facing charges under Sections 153A (promoting enmity) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after advocate Nripendra Pandey filed a complaint against him.Pandey had initially approached an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) with an application to register a first information report (FIR) against Gandhi for his remarks on Savarkar.Pandey raised grievance over remarks made by Rahul Gandhi on November 17, 2022 when he referred to Savarkar as a collaborator with the British and further stated that Sarvarkar received pension from the British.Pandey asserted that these remarks were made with the intent of inciting hatred in society.The complaint by Pandey also asserted that Mahatma Gandhi had previously recognized Savarkar as a patriot.In June 2023, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Ambrish Kumar Srivastava had dismissed Pandey's complaint prompting Pandey to challenge the same before the sessions court.The sessions court then allowed the plea and remanded the matter back to the Magistrate court which then issued summons to Gandhi..Recently, the Lucknow court also imposed costs of ₹200 on Gandhi for non-appearance in the case.
