Varanasi court rejects plea to file case against Rahul Gandhi for comment on condition of Sikhs
On Thursday, a Varanasi court dismissed a plea seeking registration of an FIR against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks about Sikhs during his recent trip to the US.
In a plea filed by Nageshwar Mishra, it was alleged that in his recent visit to the United States, Gandhi made an objectionable statement in which he said there is an atmosphere of insecurity among Sikhs in India.
On September 10, in a speech he delivered here in Washington DC, Rahul Gandhi said.
“It’s about whether a Sikh is allowed to wear a turban in India, or a kara in India, or cannot walk into Gurdwara. The fight is about that. This is for all the religions.”
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neeraj Kumar Tripathi, who rejected the plea, said an alleged offence committed outside India cannot be inquired into or tried in India unless the Central government gives sanction under the proviso to section 208 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
They said the statement was provocative and designed to incite people to act in furtherance of Gandhi’s political interests.
The plea also alleged that Gandhi had also waged similar ‘propaganda’ during a Rally organised at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on December 14, 2019, which ultimately led to a massive protest at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, which ended in violence and anarchy.
To this, the Court observed,
The plea did not ask for the quashing of the plea on the ground of any act which could suggest any cognisable offences based on Gandhi’s speech in Delhi.
After these observations, the Court threw out the plea.
