Remarks against Army: SC extends stay on trial court proceedings against Gandhi

New Delhi, Oct 13 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Monday extended till November 20 its interim order staying proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a Lucknow court in a case related to his alleged derogatory remarks about the Indian Army during his 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Vipul M Pancholi.

"In view of letter circulated by counsel for the petitioner seeking adjournment for filing rejoinder affidavit, list the matters on November 20, 2025. The interim order granted earlier on August 4, 2025 is extended till the next date of hearing," the bench said.

The bench was hearing Gandhi's plea challenging a May 29 order of the Allahabad High Court dismissing his plea challenging the trial court's summoning order in the case.

Two separate petitions were also listed for hearing along with the plea filed by Gandhi.

While hearing Gandhi's plea on August 4, the top court stayed till the next date of hearing further proceedings in the complaint case pending before a court in Lucknow.

"How do you get to know that 2,000 sq km of Indian territory has been occupied by Chinese? Were you there? Do you have any credible material?" the bench had asked, pulling up Gandhi for his alleged remarks.

"Why do you make these statements without having any material? If you are a true Indian, you won't say such a thing," it added.

The top court then issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case seeking their responses on Gandhi's plea.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, had told the apex court that it would be an unfortunate situation if the leader of opposition cannot raise issues. He referred to Section 223 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita and said prior hearing of the accused was mandatory before the court took cognisance of a criminal complaint, which was not done in the present case.

In his plea filed in a court, complainant Udai Shanker Srivastava alleged that Gandhi made several derogatory remarks about the Indian Army in context of the conflict with Chinese soldiers during his December 2022 yatra.

The trial court summoned Gandhi as an accused for facing trial for the alleged offence of defamation. Gandhi's advocate Pranshu Agarwal argued that the allegations appeared to be fabricated, just by reading the complaint.

It was also argued that Gandhi is not a resident of Lucknow. So the trial court should have investigated the veracity of the allegations before summoning him on this complaint, and he should have been summoned only if the allegations were prima-facie found to be fit for trial. PTI ABA ABA MIN MIN