Assam court summons Rahul Gandhi in defamation suit

Guwahati, Aug 6: A court in Assam has issued summons to Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to appear before it on September 29 over a defamation suit filed against him.

The summons was issued by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Kamrup (Metro) district.

"Anjan Bora had filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi in the court of the CJM, Guwahati under section 499 and 500 of the IPC, which is related to criminal defamation. The court after examining all witnesses today issued a summon against Rahul Gandhi and asked him to be present in the court on September 29 this year," said senior advocate of Guwahati High Court, Bijan Mahajan, who represented Bora in court.

Bora, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)volunteer, had filed the defamation suit against Rahul for allegedly tarnishing the image of the RSS by stating before media that he was not allowed to enter the Barpeta Satra, an institute, by RSS members in December last year.

Bora said that Rahul was supposed to visit the 15th century Satra on December 12 last year. But Rahul decided not to go to the Satra and instead took part in a public rally in Barpeta town.

Bora said that Rahul, however, told the media in New Delhi that he was stopped from entering the Satra by RSS members. Bora also said that RSS does not run the administration of the Satra and hence there was no way the RSS would have prevented Rahul.

IANS