Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has pleaded not guilty while appearing for the hearing of a criminal defamation case that was filed against him for linking RSS with Gauri Lankesh’s murder. He has been released on Rs 15000 surety amount provided by ex-MP Eknath Gaikwad.
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Addressing the media after the court hearing, Gandhi said that this is a fight for ideology and he is standing with the poor and farmers. “Attacks are happening, I am having fun,” he said.
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As the hearing of the case was going, Congress supporters had also gathered outside the court with placards and raising slogans.
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The defamation case was filed by a Mumbai-based lawyer Dhrutiman Joshi seeking damages of Re.1 for their allegation that RSS was behind Gauri Lankesh’s murder. The complaint was filed against both Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury.
In the complainant, Dhrutiman Joshi stated that the former Congress President, within 24-hours of the murder of the journalist, criticised the RSS and alleged that “anybody who speaks against the ideology of the BJP, against the ideology of the RSS is pressured, beaten, attacked and even killed.”
After having resigned as the Congress President, Rahul Gandhi would be attending a series of defamation cases filed against him. Several defamation cases have been filed against for making frivolous statements made in the past.
Previously Rahul Gandhi had also blamed the RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He however made U-Turn saying that his comments were misinterpreted by the RSS worker who filed the initial complaint against him. Rahul Gandhi had yet again managed to escape another defamation case by deleting a video just minutes after uploading it on Twitter and YouTube.