SC slaps gag order on Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Friday castigated Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his alleged derogatory remarks on freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. In November 2022, Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Yatra, made defamatory comments on Savarkar at a rally in Maharashtra's Akola. A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan asked Rahul Gandhi to refrain from making “irresponsible statements” as it told him not to speak anything against freedom fighters.

“Mahatma Gandhi also used ‘your faithful servant’ while addressing the Viceroy? Someone does not become a servant like this. Next time, somebody will say Mahatma Gandhi was the servant of the British,” it remarked. The Justice Datta-led Bench cautioned that if the Congress leader made any such comments in the future, it would initiate "suo motu" action against him. “Let's be clear, any further statement and we will take suo moto! We will not allow you to speak anything about our freedom fighters. They have given us freedom, and this is how we treat them?” said the apex court as it dealt with Rahul Gandhi’s petition to quash a 2022 defamation case filed against him. After senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Rahul Gandhi, orally undertook that the Congress leader would refrain from making such comments in future.