Apologize or face trial: Supreme Court to Rahul Gandhi on defamation case filed by RSS

New Delhi: Congress president Rahul Gandhi will face trial in the defamation case filed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over his allegations that it had killed Mahatma Gandhi.

The Supreme Court today said Rahul should either “apologise or face trial”.

“You must either apologise or face trial. The case must be decided on merit, whether what you spoke was for public good or not,” the apex court told Rahul’s lawyer.

The apex court has given time till July 27 to Rahul to file his side of the argument,

“You can’t make wholesale denunciation of an organisation. The purpose of law is not to turn citizens into litigants. History is the biggest enemy of privacy,” the Supreme Court observed.

At an election rally in March last year, Rahul had accused the BJP’s ideological mentor of killing Mahatma Gandhi in 1948. Gandhi was gunned down by Nathuram Godse.
Rahul later turned down the Supreme Court’s offer to express regret for his comment and preferred to pursue the defamation case.