The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial court proceedings in a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged derogatory remarks about the Indian Army during his Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The top court also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case.
The bench, comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice A.G. Masih, however, expressed strong disapproval of Gandhi’s remarks.
“How do you get to know that 2000 square kilometres of Indian territory were occupied by the Chinese? Were you there? Do you have any credible material?,” the top court asked, reported Live Law.
“If you were a true Indian, you would not say all this,” it further said.
J Datta to @RahulGandhi: "How do you get to know that 2000 sqr km of Indian territory has been occupied by Chinese? Were you there? Do you have any credible material? If you are a true Indian, you won't say such a thing. Where there is a conflict across the border, is it unusual… https://t.co/T9PI7AkJmL
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) August 4, 2025
Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, submitted that it would be an unfortunate situation if an opposition leader could not raise issues which were already published in the press.
To this, Justice Datta responded: "Whatever you have to say, why don't you say in the Parliament? Why do you have to say this in the social media posts?"
When Singhvi claimed Gandhi was only raising concerns about the suppression of information, Justice Datta said there was a proper forum to raise such questions.
Singhvi admitted that Gandhi could have worded his remarks in a better manner, but alleged that the complaint against his client was only an attempt to harass him.
In his plea filed in a local court, complainant Udai Shanker Srivastava alleged that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022, Gandhi made several derogatory remarks about the Indian Army in the context of the Galwan Valley clash with China.
The Allahabad High Court on May 29 dismissed Gandhi’s plea challenging the summoning order, following which the Congress MP approached the Supreme Court.
