City court issues summons to Rahul Gandhi in defamation case

Mumbai: A magistrate court in Girgaon on Friday issued summons to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking him to present himself on October 3, in connection with a complaint about his terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi the ‘commander-in-thief’ a year ago.

The BJP worker, Mahesh Shrishrimal, who filed a defamation suit against Mr Gandhi, alleged that the latter had also defamed Mr Modi on September 20, 2018, during a live telecast on national television. The complainant also produced copies of newspapers, which had reported his statement, before the court.

The magistrate in his order stated, “On perusal of the complaint, it appe-ars that the complainant, being a member of the

BJP, has locus to file the present complaint.”

The order further read, “The fact stated by the complainant on oath reveals that the alleged defamation has caused not only of the Prime Minister but also its members too … The complainant has made out a prima facie case for issuance of process against the accused u/s 500 of the Indian Penal Code (sic).”

According to the complainant, on the date of the incident, Mr Gandhi had conducted a rally at Rajasthan during which he had made the statement “Hindustan ka chowkidar chor hai (the watchman of India is a thief)”. Later, on micro-blogging site Twitter he posted a video on his personal account, which he captioned, “The truth about India’s commander in thief”.