Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty in a defamation case over allegedly linking journalist Gauri Lankesh's murder with “BJP-RSS ideology”.
Rahul had appeared in a local Mumbai court on Thursday over the defamation case filed by Dhrutiman Joshi, a lawyer and worker of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Mazgaon metropolitan magistrate's court has issued summons in February to Rahul and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury in response to the complaint.
Rahul and Yechury, who pleaded not guilty, will now face trial during which the court would record their statements and that of the complainant and other witnesses.
The court granted Gandhi and Yechury bail on a surety amount of Rs 15,000 each and also granted them permanent exemption from appearance before it during hearings in the case.
Rahul, who has resigned as the Congress president, spoke to the media after his court appearance and said that this is a fight of ideology, and he will continue to fight with 10 times more vigour.
Gauri Lankesh was shot dead at her residence in Bengaluru on September 5, 2017 by suspected right-wing extremists.
Joshi, who had filed the complaint in 2017 against Rahul Gandhi, then Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), alleged that within 24 hours of Lankesh's death, Rahul told reporters that “anybody who speaks against the ideology of the BJP, against the ideology of the RSS, is pressured, beaten, attacked and even killed”.
The complaint also alleged that Yechury stated that it was the RSS' ideology and RSS people who killed the journalist who was known for trenchant criticism of right-wing politics.
The court had issued summons to Rahul and Yechury, but dismissed the charges against Sonia Gandhi and the CPI(M) for a party cannot be held liable for comments made by individuals.
(With inputs from PTI)
