Magistrate court defers Rahul defamation case plea to January 17

Mumbai: The magistrate court in Bhiwandi has fixed January 17 for recording the plea of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him. The court will record his plea before framing charges. Since the case against Mr Gandhi is based on a private complaint he needs to remain present in court during the hearing unless he gets an exemption.

According to Mr Gandhi’s lawyer Narayan Iyer, as per routine, the case has been transferred to a new judge, who also holds additional charge of the juvenile court. Since the judge was presiding over the juvenile court on Friday, the matter has been simply adjourned to January 17 for recording Mr Gandhi’s plea.

Magistrate D.P. Kale was hearing this case earlier, but the matter has now been transferred to magistrate Sudhir Barde, who is currently holding additional charge of the juvenile court.

Magistrate  Barde attends the court  on every Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

On next date of hearing, the lawyers of both the complainant and the accused are expected to argue on material available on record.

Thereafter, the court will ask the accused if he pleads guilty or denies the charges and is ready to face trial. If the accused denies charges, than the court will frame charges on him and later witnesses will be called for evidence.

Rajesh Kunte, an Rashtriya Sewa Sangh (RSS) member from Bhiwandi had filed a defamation case against Gandhi.

He alleged that Mr Gandhi had, during an election rally in Bhiwandi last March, “obliquely hinted that an RSS worker killed Mahatma Gandhi'”.

Three weeks, after his speech, Mr Kunte sought criminal prosecution of the Congress vice-president under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code for “false and baseless allegations intended to harm the reputation of the RSS.”