The Supreme Court has granted a stay on criminal defamation proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, while simultaneously reprimanding him for his remarks regarding the Indian Army during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022. Justices Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih, addressing the case, conveyed their disapproval of Gandhi’s statements concerning national security, remarking, “a true Indian will not say all this.”
The contentious remarks made by Gandhi included assertions that the Chinese Army had seized 2,000 square kilometers of Indian territory, killed 20 Indian soldiers, and assaulted Indian forces in Arunachal Pradesh. These comments were made during a press interaction on December 9, 2022, following a clash in the Yangtse sector of Arunachal Pradesh.
The court proceedings arose from Gandhi’s challenge to a May 29 order by the Allahabad High Court, which had upheld a trial court’s February 11 summons in the defamation case initiated by Uday Shankar Srivastava, a retired director of the Border Roads Organisation. Srivastava claims that Gandhi’s statements were not only false but also demoralizing for the armed forces and detrimental to the spirit of national unity.
Gandhi’s legal representative, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, argued that the Congress leader was exercising his right to free speech as enshrined in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. He contended that these remarks aimed to call for more rigorous media scrutiny regarding sensitive border matters. Nonetheless, the bench criticized the platform and manner of expression, suggesting that such comments should ideally be offered in Parliament, rather than through the media or social platforms.
“Why do you say this in the media? Were you there? How do you know these details?” the bench queried, while underscoring its intent to address broader legal questions about whether Gandhi had been denied a hearing by the lower court and if the complainant qualified as an “aggrieved person” under defamation law.
Opposing the stay, senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia, representing Srivastava, expressed support for the trial court’s ruling. The Supreme Court has stated it will delve deeper into the matter in three weeks, highlighting the case’s significance regarding the delicate balance between free speech and the need for responsible public discourse by elected officials concerning the armed forces and national security.
