Defamation case: Complainant pays Rs 1,500 cost to Rahul Gandhi as directed by court

The complainant in the defamation case filed against Rahul Gandhi has paid Rs 1,500 cost to the Congress leader as per the directions of a court at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra’s Thane district. Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) J V Paliwal had ordered the complainant, local RSS activist Rajesh Kunte, to pay the amount to Gandhi as he (Kunte) had sought adjournment in the case.

Kunte had moved applications seeking adjournment in the case twice – in March and April – which the court had rejected and asked him to pay Rs 500 (for March) and Rs 1,000 (for April) to Gandhi. In 2014, Kunte had filed the case against Gandhi after watching his speech in Thane’s Bhiwandi township, where the Congress leader alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was behind the killing of Mahatma Gandhi.

Kunte had claimed that this statement slandered the reputation of the RSS. Talking to reporters on Saturday, Rahul Gandhi’s counsel Narayan Iyer said, ”A sum of Rs 1,500 sent by Kunte through money order as per the court’s directions has been received at the office of Rahul Gandhi in Delhi.” Advocate Ganesh Dhargalkar representing the complainant confirmed that his client had sent Rs 1,500 to Gandhi’s Delhi office as per the court orders.

Iyer said the court has already set May 10 as the date for commencement of day-to-day hearing in the case. In 2018, a court in Thane had framed charges against Gandhi in the case, but he had pleaded not guilty to the charges.