Chargesheet Framed Against Rahul Gandhi For Defaming RSS

A court in Bhiwandi, 20 km from Mumbai metropolis, has framed charges against Congress President Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case for all alleging that the RSS was involved in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. The charges were framed under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty. Under section 500, a person found guilty of defamation faces simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.  The court fixed August 10 as the next date of hearing, when the actual trial will begin. The case has been filed by an RSS activist.He pleaded not guilty in the court and later vowed at a rally vowed afresh to continue to fight RSS and BJP. He arrived at the court amid heavy security cover and was greeted by hoards of people raising slogans in his support in the town located in Thane district. Inside the court, when Judge A I Sheikh, read out charges against him, Gandhi said “I am not guilty.”Culture is the root of Indian nationhood. The court had on May 2 asked Gandhi to appear before it today to record his plea in the defamation case filed by RSS worker Rajesh Kunte in 2014.Kunte had filed the case after watching Rahul Gandhi’s speech at an election rally in which he had alleged that the RSS was behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.”The RSS people had killed (Mahatma) Gandhi,” Rahul Gandhi had allegedly said in the rally. Activists of the RSS headquartered in Nagpur continue to claim that it has not been proved  by any court across India that Gandhiji  was assassinated  by the RSS  in New Delhi  on January 30, 1948.  Rahul had moved the Supreme Court in 2015 seeking a stay on Bombay High Court’s order dismissing his plea for quashing the defamation case. In 2016, the court said Rahul must either apologise or face trial for his remarks. “You can’t make wholesale denunciation of an organisation,” the top court had said. (pic courtesy to Congress Twitter).The Gandhi scion, who arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday morning for a two-day visit to Maharashtra, reached the magistrate’s court at 11.05 am amid heavy security cover and was greeted by supporters who raised slogans in his favour. He was accompanied by Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan and some other party leaders.  In the court room, Rahul’s counsel Narayan Iyer and the complainant’s lawyer Dharghalkar argued the submissions made by Gandhi in the High Court where he had submitted the transcript of his speech made during the said election rally at Bhiwandi on 6 March, 2014. The issue of taking it on record in this court was hotly debated and remained inconclusive, adds Firstpost.