Supreme Court stays proceedings against Rahul Gandhi in criminal defamation case

New Delhi, May 7: The Supreme Court today stayed the proceedings against Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamataion case before a trial court in Maharashtra for allegedly blaming RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. ”There shall be stay of further proceedings in a case pending before the trial court till the next date of hearing,” a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant said.
The case against Gandhi is pending before a magisterial court in Bhiwandi in Thane district of Maharashtra.Rahul Gandhi moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the Bombay High Court order dismissing his plea for quashing a defamation case against him for allegedly blaming RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The petition, which is listed for hearing tomorrow before the bench headed by Justice Dipak Mishra, has also challenged the constitutional validity of the penal provisions dealing with defamation.Gandhi’s plea seeking to quash the complaint filed by RSS activist Rajesh Kunte before a magisterial court in Bhiwandi in Thane district of Maharashtra was rejected by the Bombay High Court on March 10. It was alleged by the RSS activist that the Congress leader had said at a rally during last year’s Lok Sabha poll that a worker of the saffron outfit killed Mahatma Gandhi.