Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday told the Supreme Court that he stands by his remarks blaming the RSS people for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and said he was ready to face trial for alleged criminal defamation of the outfit.
Gandhi’s lawyer Kapil Sibal told the Supreme Court that the Congress Vice-President stood by what he had said about the people associated with RSS.
While allowing Gandhi to withdraw his petition, the bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman declined his plea for exemption from appearing before the trial court in defamation case.
The Congress Vice-President had moved the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court order refusing to interfere with the criminal defamation case instituted by an RSS activist Rajesh Mahadev Kunte before a Bhiwandi court in Thane district of Maharashtra.
Kunte is the secretary of the Bhiwandi unit of RSS.
During the last hearing the apex court bench took note of Gandhi’s statement before the Bombay High Court that he had not blamed the RSS as an institution for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi but the people associated with it.
However, on Thursday the matter took a different turn when senior counsel Lalit said that to prove his bonafides, Rahul Gandhi should say that he did not intend to involve RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
At this, senior counsel Sibal appearing for Gandhi told the bench that he (Rahul Gandhi) stands by every word he had said before the High Court. “RSS ke logon ne goli mari. (RSS people shot at Mahatma Gandhi) I stand by my every word. I will not add or subtract a word to what I have said. I am ready to go to trial,” he said.
Sibal urged the court to record his statement in its order that Rahul Gandhi is ready to face trial. The bench refused to record it and said the trial court will decide the matter uninfluenced by the observation in the high court order. (Inputs: IANS)
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