Ahmedabad / Ahmedabad court issues summons to Rahul Gandhi

A local court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday re-issued summons to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, asking him to appear before it on August 9 in a defamation case filed against him by a BJP municipal councillor for a remark against BJP president Amit Shah. Mr. Gandhi had referred to Mr. Shah as a “murder accused”.

In a separate case, a local court in Surat also asked Mr Gandhi to appear before it on July 16 for his alleged remark that “all thieves like Nirav, Lalit etc have Modi as surname.”

Mr. Gandhi was scheduled to appear before the court in Ahmedabad on Tuesday but his lawyers sought more time. so that court has now summoned him to appear on August 9, the next date of hearing the case.

The case in Ahmedabad has been filed by BJP municipal councillor Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt, alleging that Mr Gandhi’s statement in the election rally of April 23 in Jabalpur was derogatory to Mr. Shah as he was already discharged in the Shohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case by a CBI court.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate D.S. Dabhi reissued the summons after the one issued on May 1 – which was to be served through the Lok Sabha speaker as Rahul Gandhi is a Member of Parliament – was returned.

The Speaker returned the summons saying he had no locus standi in the case, said the complainant’s lawyer Prakash Patel. The latest summons will be served directly to the Congress leader at his residence in New Delhi.

In Surat, Chief Judicial Magistrate B.H. Kapadia asked Mr. Gandhi to appear on July 16 while an Ahmedabad court ordered the Congress leader to appear on August 9.

In both the cases, the courts issued summonses holding that on the face of it there was a case of criminal defamation against Gandhi under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.

The Surat court was hearing a complaint of BJP legislator Purnesh Modi who alleged that the Congress leader had defamed the entire Modi community with his remark that "how come all thieves have Modi as common surname" made during the Lok Sabha campaign.

It may be noted that the Congress leader who resigned as the party President taking responsibility for the party’s debacle in the parliamentary polls, is facing several cases of defamation. Last week, he appeared in courts in Mumbai and Patna and was granted bail in both cases at both places. He had alleged that the cases were filed by his political opponents to "harass and intimidate" him.