Court dismisses defamation plea against RaGa over post on 2020 Hathras case

Agra: The court of additional civil judge (senior division) Deepak Nath Saraswati in Hathras on Wednesday dismissed a defamation complaint against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over a social media post linked to the alleged Hathras gang rape-murder case of 2020. The court had reserved its order on May 2 after hearing arguments from both sides. The matter before the court was whether Gandhi should be summoned in person in the case.Gandhi had visited Hathras on Dec 12, 2024, to meet the 19-year-old victim’s family, following which he claimed that several assurances given by the state govt to the family were yet to be fulfilled.The complainants alleged that during his visit, Gandhi made a social media post referring to them as “gang rape accused” despite their acquittal by a court on March 2, 2023. They later approached the court, alleging that Gandhi’s post on X had “damaged their restored social reputation and once again portrayed them as criminals after it was widely circulated online”.Advocates Alok Chandra from Lucknow and Bhagwati Prasad Baghel from Hathras appeared on behalf of Gandhi, while advocate Munna Singh Pundir represented the complainants.Advocate Baghel told TOI that after hearing both sides and examining the evidence and witness testimonies, the court dismissed the complaint against Gandhi.In its judgment, the court observed: “After considering the submissions, the court concluded that the disputed statement made by the opposite party was intended to criticise or comment on the govt’s declarations and policies. Upon examination of the oral and documentary evidence presented by the complainant, along with the report called for under section 225 of BNSS, it was not prima facie evident that the disputed statement was made with the intention of defaming any particular individual.”The court further held that there were “insufficient grounds” to proceed against the ‘opposite party’ or summon him in the matter, and accordingly dismissed the complaint.Advocate Pundir said, “We will go through the judgment, which I have not seen yet, and then decide our next course of action.”With inputs from Sumit Sharma in Hathras