The Allahabad High Court has dismissed Rahul Gandhi's plea to quash summons in a defamation case related to his 2022 comments about Indian soldiers during the Tawang clash.
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00:01Allahabad High Court has hit out at Rahul Gandhi.
00:05The court had said no freedom to defame the Indian Army.
00:11The Supreme Court had in fact gone on to say that this freedom to speak but not to defame.
00:17Don't defame the Indian Army.
00:19Gandhi had claimed China beating up the Indian Army.
00:23Last week the court had rejected Rahul Gandhi's relief.
00:27This plea which was put up before the court.
00:30Gandhi had in fact taken a jive at the Army during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yata.
00:37This has got to do with the Commons of the made in the year 2022.
00:43I'm going straight across to Nalini for more details on that story.
00:46Nalini, the court coming down heavily against Rahul Gandhi.
00:50Take us to the details of what has been said just now.
00:52Well, Sneha, this was a plea that was filed by Rahul Gandhi before the Allahabad High Court
00:58asking for the summons that were issued against him and the defamation case
01:01as well as the criminal proceedings to be quashed against him.
01:05This was after he had made some statements regarding the Tawang clash
01:08during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022
01:11where he had allegedly said that the Indian soldiers and the Indian Army
01:15was getting thrashed by the Chinese soldiers in Tawang
01:18after which there were several media reports regarding the statement
01:23that had also come into light
01:24and there was a defamation case that was filed against Rahul Gandhi
01:27for allegedly hurting the sentiments of several veterans of the Indian Army
01:31as well as Indian Army soldiers
01:33and on that there was a summons that was issued to him by the trial court.
01:37He'd approached the Allahabad High Court trying to get some relief
01:39and asking for the summons to be quashed
01:41but the Allahabad High Court has clearly said
01:44that freedom of expression does not allow to defame the Indian Army
01:48and for that reason they've dismissed Rahul Gandhi's plea
01:52and they've said that the summons will not be quashed.
01:55Rahul Gandhi will have to appear before the trial court
01:57and the trial in the case will go on
01:59once Rahul Gandhi's appearance actually happens.
02:02So there's no relief coming in for him.
02:04The Allahabad High Court making it very clear
02:06that no kind of defamatory statements or insult to the Indian Army
02:10or the soldiers will be accepted by the court
02:12and Rahul Gandhi will have to face the repercussions
02:15of the statements that are made by him
02:17more importantly so because he's a member of parliament
02:19he's a public figure
02:20which is why he should make these statements more responsibly.
02:24Along with that the High Court has also said
02:25that Rahul Gandhi made these statements to the media
02:28so he was very well aware of the fact
02:31that these statements will be publicised in media reports
02:33regarding his statements will be published the next day
02:37and he should have been more responsible
02:38and more aware of the kind of statements he was making
02:41which is why the summons will not be quashed.
02:43Rahul Gandhi will now have to appear
02:44before the trial court and allow for the proceedings to go on.
02:47Alright I'm going to leave with that for the moment.
02:49These were comments that were made in the year 2022
02:52but the court today is saying freedom to speak
02:54but not to defame saying that there are forces
02:57our forces were getting beaten up by the Chinese
03:00and a comment to that effect was made
03:03by the leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha.