Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi has rejected an offer from the Supreme Court to express regret over his alleged comments holding RSS responsible for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, and get the criminal defamation case against him closed.
The young Gandhi has appealed against a Bombay high court decision rejecting his petition seeking the cancellation of a criminal defamation case filed against him by an RSS worker for his comments during the last general election campaign. He has also filed a written petition, along with BJP member Subramaniam Swamy and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, challenging the constitutional validity of criminal defamation provisions of the IPC. The Apex Court has reserved verdict on those petitions.
When the special leave petition challenging the HC verdict was called for hearing before Justices Dipak Misra and P C Pant, the bench said, “The case can be given a decent burial”, and dictated a proposed order where Rahul expresses mild regret for his utterances. However, Rahul's counsel, Kapil Sibal turned down the offer saying, “I cannot give a response. If there is a battle, it can always be fought. There are several SC judgments supporting my client in addition to other evidence.” Senior advocate M N Krishnamani, appearing for RSS worker R M Kunte seemed to have agreed for closure of the case if Rahul expresses regret.
Rahul's counsel Mahalaxmi Pavani said the court had not ordered stay of proceedings in the defamation case in the special leave petition. She said the Bhiwandi court in Maharashtra has scheduled the next hearing in the criminal defamation case filed by Kunte on January 6.
