There are more than 10 criminal cases against the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi which remain pending against him in various parts of the country however, he has never filed any defamation case against anyone in his career so far.
The opponents of the Gandhi family have made some controversial statements against him along with labelling him ‘Pappu’ but the Congress leader is yet to file any defamation suit against any of them.
In the year 2015, Rahul Gandhi had challenged the criminal defamation law itself before the Supreme Court alleging that the same was being misused to gag political opponents and the media.
The plea top court had, however, dismissed the plea.
A Magistrate court in Surat has recently convicted Gandhi for criminal defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison for his remark, “Why all thieves have Modi surname?”
Gandhi was disqualified from Lok Sabha consequent to his conviction.
Below are the defamation cases pending against Rahul Gandhi across the country.
1.For linking RSS to Mahatma Gandhi
Rahul Gandhi said that “RSS people killed Gandhiji addressing an election rally at Thane district in March 2014.
His statement stoked a controversy and Rajesh Kunte, the chief of RSS’s Bhiwandi Unit, sued Gandhi for defaming the RSS.
The court framed charges against Gandhi, who pleaded not guilty.
“The trial in this case is yet to begin as the complainant has not brought any witness yet.
Gandhi in 2016, clarified in his affidavit filed before the Supreme Court that he never blamed RSS as a whole institution for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
2.RSS people did not allow me to enter temple”
In December 2015, while campaigning in the then poll-bound Assam, Rahul Gandhi was to visit the Barpeta Satra monastery but later claimed that people of the RSS restrained him from entering the temple.
Soon after this, RSS activist Anjan Bora filed a defamation suit against Gandhi. He alleged that Gandhi insulted women devotees.
3.Demonetisation comment on Amit Shah, Ahmedabad District Co-operative Bank
In June 2018, Rahul Gandhi said that posted a tweet accusing Amit Shah of being a director of the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank. He alleged that the bank has exchanged ₹750 crores of demonetised money within a span of five days.
The Congress leader had relied upon an RTI reply to make this allegation.
4.Linking RSS to the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh
Renowned journalist Gauri Lankesh was shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru allegedly by some right-wing activists in 2017, within a few hours Gandhi in a press briefing said,
“Anybody who speaks against the ideology of the BJP, against the ideology of RSS is pressured, beaten, attacked and even killed.”
The statement did not go down well with RSS activists and lawyers and a criminal defamation and a civil suit were filed respectively.
The matter would be heard next on April 15.
5.Modi is ‘commander-in-thief’ comment
In September 2018, BJP was been ridiculed over the Rafale fighter jet deal, and Rahul Gandhi while citing a French publication’s report, tweeted, “The sad truth about India’s commander-in-thief.”
This tweet was targeted at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom the Congress leader accused of making changes to the deal to benefit Reliance.
A criminal defamation against Gandhi was filed in this case The matter is pending before a court in Gurgaon.
6.Comment against Amit Shah
While addressing an election rally in 2019 Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Rahul Gandhi allegedly accused the then BJP President Amit Shah of being a murder accused.
He said”Murder accused BJP Chief Amit Shah, wah, kya shaan hai…”
7..Congress BJP Ki tarah Hatyare ko Party Adhyaksh Nahi Sweekaregi” (2 FIRs)
In 2019, Rahul Gandhi made a controversial speech in Jharkhand during Congress convention and once again targeted Amit Shah of being a murder accused.
Two defamation cases were filed on this statement – one in Chaibasa district and another in Ranchi by BJP workers Pratap Katiyar and Naveen Jha.
8.Why all thieves have Modi surname?” (3 FIRs)
The controversial statement made by Rahul Gandhi was criticised by BJP party workers across the country as the same targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and compared him to economic offenders like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi.
Three cases were against Gandhi for making such a controversial comparison in an election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar in 2019.
9.Savarkar betrayed freedom fighters, apologised to British” (2 FIRs)
The latest defamation cases against Rahul Gandhi was filed in the year 2022 for his ‘derogatory’ comments made during ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
In a press briefing, Gandhi said,
“Savarkar betrayed freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel by signing a letter of apology to the British before independence.
A complaint was also filed by Savarkar’s grandson Vinayak Savarkar in Shivaji Park police station in Mumbai for hurting the sentiments of citizens by making ‘derogatory’ remarks against Savarkar.