The Allahabad High Court on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea challenging the summons issued to him by a local court in connection with alleged derogatory remarks made against the Indian Army during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in December 2022.
A single-judge bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the order, stating that a detailed judgment would be made available by Monday.
The plea stemmed from a complaint filed by Udai Shanker Srivastava, who alleged that Gandhi had made offensive statements against the Indian Army during the course of his political campaign, particularly in the context of tensions with Chinese forces. The local court, finding prima facie merit in the complaint, had summoned Gandhi as an accused to face trial.
During the hearing, the Uttar Pradesh government’s legal team — comprising Additional Advocate General VK Shahi, Government Advocate VK Singh, and Additional Government Advocate Anurag Verma — argued that the petition was not maintainable as Gandhi had the option to challenge the trial court’s summoning order before the sessions court. They also submitted that the complaint and witness statements, on their face, indicated commission of an offence.
In his petition, Gandhi contended that the complaint was politically motivated and filed with mala fide intent. His counsel, advocate Pranshu Agarwal, argued that Gandhi was not a resident of Lucknow and that the trial court failed to conduct a preliminary inquiry to verify the allegations before summoning him.
However, the High Court found no merit in the arguments and declined to interfere with the lower court’s order at this stage.
The case is now set to proceed before the trial court, with Gandhi required to appear in accordance with the summons.
