A Special MP/MLA court in Pune has taken on record a note from Rahul Gandhi’s legal team expressing fears for his safety amid heightened political tensions linked to the Savarkar defamation case.
BY PC Bureau
August 13, 2025 — In a significant development in the ongoing criminal defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his remarks on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, a Special MP/MLA Court in Pune on Wednesday recorded a pursis filed by his lawyer, warning of “grave apprehensions” to Gandhi’s safety and concerns over possible influence on the judicial process.
The pursis, submitted by advocate Milind Dattatraya Pawar, urged the court to take judicial notice of threats and hostile rhetoric directed at Gandhi, particularly after he alleged large-scale “vote theft” in recent political interventions.
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“Preventive protection is not only prudent but is a constitutional obligation upon the State,” Pawar stated in the filing, adding that the request was a “protective and precautionary measure for safeguarding the fairness, integrity, and transparency of the present proceedings.”
The court has scheduled the next hearing for September 10.
Threats and Political Hostility Cited
The plea referenced two public threats by BJP leaders — Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu, who allegedly called Gandhi the “number one terrorist of the country,” and BJP leader Tarvinder Singh Marwah, who reportedly warned that Gandhi “must behave well else he may face the same fate like his grandmother.”
The application also highlighted the immediate backlash Gandhi faced following his August 11 Lok Sabha speech, in which he declared:
“A true Hindu is never violent. A Hindu cannot spread hatred. The BJP spreads hatred and violence, and you do not represent Hindus.”
Following the speech, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi held press conferences accusing Gandhi of insulting Hindus and demeaning his position.
Lineage of Complainant in Focus
Pawar’s pursis drew attention to the complainant Satyaki Savarkar’s claimed lineage, noting that in a July 29 written statement, Satyaki identified himself as a direct descendant — through his maternal family — of Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse, both principal accused in Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, as well as a descendant of Vinayak Savarkar.
“Given the documented history of violent and anti-constitutional tendencies linked to the complainant’s lineage… there exists a clear, reasonable, and substantial apprehension that Shri Rahul Gandhi may face harm, wrongful implication, or other forms of targeting,” the plea stated.
It added: “The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was not an act of impulse; rather it was the calculated outcome of a conspiracy, rooted in a specific ideology, culminating in deliberate violence against an unarmed person… History must not be permitted to repeat itself.”
Allegations of Ideological Influence
The pursis alleged that “followers of such ideology have been known to spread animosity on caste and religious lines, manipulate electoral processes, and benefit certain industrialists at the expense of the poor.”
“Gandhi, in his constitutional capacity as Leader of the Opposition, is standing against such policies and raising his voice for the poor and marginalised. Accordingly, it cannot be ruled out that caste-based extremists, politically motivated industrialists, Hindutva supporters, and those willing to subvert constitutional governance may harbour animosity towards the Accused,” the application read.
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It also warned that the complainant “may seek to derive undue advantage from the existing political circumstances, with an intent to exert influence upon the Court.”
The defamation complaint was filed by Satyaki Savarkar after Gandhi, during a speech in London in March 2023, cited an incident from Savarkar’s writings describing an alleged assault on a Muslim man, which Savarkar and others purportedly found “pleasurable.”
Satyaki disputes that such an account exists in Savarkar’s published works, calling Gandhi’s remarks false, misleading, and defamatory. He has sought Gandhi’s conviction under Section 500 of the IPC and compensation under Section 357 of the CrPC.
