The Supreme Court on Friday took strong exception to Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi for saying that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was a collaborator with the British who received pension from the British..A Bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan said that Gandhi's statements against the freedom fighter were irresponsible and that the Court will initiate suo motu action if he makes similar statements.Nevertheless, the Bench stayed the summons issued to him by a Magistrate court for his remarks in a criminal case initiated against him for the controversial statements."You have a good point on law and you will get a stay. But any further statement by him will be taken up suo motu. No words on our freedom fighters. They gave us freedom and we treat the like this? Issue notice. Stay on impugned order," the Court directed.The Bench while granting stay also highlighted that Gandhi's grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had written to Savarkar praising him."Does he (know) that even Mahatma Gandhi used the words 'your faithful servant'. Does he know his grandmother also sent a letter to the freedom fighter praising him? Let him not make irresponsible statements about freedom fighters. You cannot make such statements without knowing history or geography of freedom fighters," the Court said, while addressing Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi who appeared on behalf of Gandhi..Let him not make irresponsible statements about freedom fighters.Supreme Court.The Court was hearing a plea challenging an Allahabad High Court order of April 4 which had refused to quash the summons issued to him by a Magistrate court for making remarks against Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.Justice Subhash Vidyarthi of the High Court 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 of records of lower court) of the Code of Criminal Procedure instead of moving the High Court..The summons order was passed by a Lucknow Magistrate court on December 12, 2024.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 during his Bharat Jodo Yatra 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 dismissed Pandey's complaint prompting Pandey to challenge the same before the sessions court..Does he know his grandmother also sent a letter to the freedom fighter praising him?Supreme Court.The sessions court then allowed the plea and remanded the matter back to the Magistrate court which then issued summons to Gandhi.In the order, the Magistrate 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 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 which also came to be rejected leading to the present appeal before the apex court.Recently, the trial court also imposed costs of ₹200 on Gandhi for non-appearance in the case.
