Defamation case: Bombay HC dismisses Rajesh Kunte’s plea to include Rahul Gandhi’s speech document

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The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed RSS functionary Rajesh Kunte's plea seeking that the transcript of Rahul Gandhi's speech made in 2014, in which he allegedly blamed the RSS for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, be admitted as evidence in a criminal defamation case filed against the Congress leader observing that an accused cannot be compelled to admit or deny any document.

Kunte had approached the HC in 2019, challenging an order of the Bhiwandi magistrate's court passed in September 2018, which dismissed his request to admit the transcript copy in the list of documents under section 294 of the CrPc. On Monday, a single bench of the Bombay HC presided over by Justice Revati Mohite Dere dismissed Kunte's plea. Rahul is facing trial in a criminal defamation case following an FIR filed against him by Kunte in 2014 after the speech.

As per Kunte's plea, on March 6, 2014, Rahul made a speech in Bhiwandi during an election rally where he allegedly said that "RSS people" had killed Mahatma Gandhi. Soon after, Kunte, who is the secretary of the Bhiwandi unit of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, lodged a complaint against him. The Congress leader later said his comments had been quoted out of context.

In December 2014, Rahul moved the Bombay HC, challenging the defamation proceedings against him. He had at that time submitted a transcript of the speech in the HC. In his plea, Rahul said among other things, the "BJP and RSS were essentially the same" and while he meant to speak about BJP's position on Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, he had said RSS instead.

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