Our Bureau
New Delhi
During the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’, Congress leader and the leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi made some remarks stating that “Chinese troops are thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh”. The comment referred to the face-off between India and China in Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh more than two years ago in 2022.
Pertaining to the criminal defamation case filed on these comments, Rahul Gandhi was given a sharp rebuttal by the Supreme Court this Monday on August 4th. The Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice AG Masih, was not too keen on his remarks and took exception to it.
Justice Datta questioned the Congress leader on the credibility of the information based on which he made such comments. They asked him on what basis he stated that China has taken over the Indian land and even stated that they don’t believe a true national would make such comments.
“How did you get to know that 2,000 sq km of Indian land has been taken over by the Chinese? If you are a true Indian… you won’t say all of this. Were you there? Do you have any credible material?” Justice Datta said about Mr Gandhi’s remarks.
Senior Advocate, Abhishek Singhvi, who was representing the Congress leader in the Supreme Court countered the statement saying, “If he can’t say these things… how can he be the Leader of Opposition?” But Justice Datta refuted the argument and said, “Then why don’t you say such things in Parliament?
The Supreme Court has now issued a notice against Rahul Gandhi’s plea to quash the case. Gandhi’s advocate, Mr Singhvi had also shed light on the blatant mistakes in the filing of charges as well as the police refraining Mr. Gandhi from a prior hearing before the acknowledgement of any criminal complaints.
