Thane court rejects Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking transfer of defamation case

Rahul Gandhi. File Pic

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea seeking transfer of a defamation suit filed against him by an RSS worker to another court has been rejected by the Thane court. Principal District Judge AJ Mantri rejected Gandhi's plea in December 2021. However, the order was uploaded only on June 14.

RSS activist Vivek Champanerkar, in a 2019 civil defamation case, sought a token compensation of Rs 1 from Gandhi, accusing him of defaming the RSS by linking it to the 2017 murder of journalist-activist Gauri Lankesh.

Gandhi's lawyer pleaded that the case should be transferred to Civil Judge, Junior Division because the compensation sought by the plaintiff was below Rs 5 lakh. The principal district judge noted in the order that the Congress MP could raise the point of pecuniary jurisdiction before the the same judge who is hearing the suit.

Champanerkar's lawyer, Aditya Mishra, had submitted that Gandhi's plea was nothing but a "frivolous application" to delay the hearing. Lankesh was shot dead in September 2017 outside her house allegedly by right-wing extremist group members.

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With inputs from PTI