Pune: A special court in the city on Wednesday issued fresh summons in a criminal defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after a Patiala House court in New Delhi returned an earlier summons over a jurisdictional issue. "Our plea for re-issuance of summons to Gandhi at his residence at 15 Tughlak Lane and 10 Janpath in New Delhi was considered by the special court today (Wednesday). The court will re-send the summons to the Tis Hazari court, New Delhi, with a request letter to serve it on Gandhi to secure his presence before the court on Nov 18," Sangram Kolhatkar, the lawyer of Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, told TOI on Wednesday.
Satyaki had filed the case over alleged objectionable remarks made by the Congress leader against the Hindutva ideologue during his March 2023 speech in London. The Pune court had issued a summons on Oct 5 seeking Gandhi's appearance before the court on Oct 23. Satyaki's lawyer then collected the summons and couriered it to the Patiala House court, but the latter returned it informing the Pune court that Gandhi was not a resident of an area falling under its jurisdiction and that the summons should be directed to the appropriate court.
Kolhatkar said the court had also given permission to Satyaki to send a parallel notice of service of summons to Gandhi under Section 62 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). Gandhi's lawyer, Asim Sarode, told TOI, "The presiding officer has informe.