Bombay High Court dismisses petition against Rahul Gandhi over remarks on Savarkar-OxBig News Network

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) rejected and refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition alleging that Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi violated the petitioner’s rights by making “immature” remarks about Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The petition sought the court to issue directions to the Congress leader that he should read his petition and learn about Savarkar before making “irresponsible” statements.

The 125-page petition, filed by Professor Pankaj K. Phadnis, 65, from Mumbai and the founding president of Abhinav Bharat Congress, a public policy think tank, mentioned history and research work by the petitioner on Savarkar.

The petitioner said that Mr. Gandhi, in London in March 2023, had tried to paint Savarkar as someone who takes pleasure in the humiliation of Muslims.

He further said that Mr. Gandhi tried to portray Savarkar as a coward and in a derogatory reference at a press conference held on March 25, 2023, where he said, “My name is not Savarkar, I am Gandhi and Gandhi does not make apologies to anyone.”

“Rahul Gandhi is LoP in Lok Sabha and could well become Prime Minister of India in the future. Therefore, he cannot be allowed to take liberties with facts to denigrate respected leaders of freedom struggle and prevent the young from being in a position to fulfil their fundamental duties. The only way to prevent him from causing harm to the nation is by an expert such as the petitioner to step into the box, depose comprehensive facts about Shri Savarkar and allow himself to be cross examined by Rahul Gandhi to establish facts once and for all,” the petitioner said, asking the court to direct Mr. Gandhi to read the contents of his petition and learn about Savarkar.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne observed that the Supreme Court had already dismissed a similar petition filed by Mr. Phadnis and said that the court could not direct Mr. Gandhi to read the contents of the petition and remove his ignorance about Vinayak Savarkar. “In your petition, your prayer is to direct him to personally study and read your petition. How can the court compel him to read your petition? This court cannot issue directions to Rahul Gandhi to study the contents of this petition and remove ignorance about the contribution of Savarkar. We do not know if he will become Prime Minister or not. Do you know that he will become the Prime Minister?“ the Bench noted and disposed of the petition.

The court noted that a criminal defamation case had already been filed against Mr. Gandhi by Satyaki Savarkar, grand nephew of Vinayak Savarkar, and that the same was pending before a special MP/MLA Court in Pune.