Allahabad High Court on Friday rejected the plea of a Hindutva group member to lodge an FIR against Rahul Gandhi and observed that there was no substance in the allegation that the leader of the Opposition intended to wage a war against the nation.
The bench of Justice Vikram D. Chauhan found the allegation baseless and said that Rahul didn’t violate any law of the country and there was no need to book him.
Earlier, Simran Gupta, a member of the Hindu Shakti Dal, had moved the Chandausi court in Sambhal district to book Rahul on sedition charges.
She had quoted the Congress leader as saying in a speech during the inauguration of the party’s new office in New Delhi that his fight was with the state itself.
"Do not think we are fighting a fair battle. If you believe this is only against a political organisation like the BJP or the RSS, then understand that they have captured almost every institution in our country. We are fighting now against the Indian State itself," Rahul was quoted as saying in Hindi to his party workers on January 15, 2025.
The petitioner said the remark hurt public sentiments and amounted to a seditious and anti-national statement allegedly intended to destabilise the country.
The Chandausi court had rejected the plea while pointing out that such unsubstantiated allegations couldn’t be heard by the court. Later, the petitioner moved the high court, challenging the lower court’s order.
Senior BJP leaders had targeted Rahul at that time and called him "anti-national". J.P. Nadda, the then BJP national president, had said the remark of the Congress leader had exposed the "ugly face" of the Opposition party.
Rahul had clarified that the RSS and the BJP had been projecting themselves as the Indian State but they had actually "grabbed the country".
An FIR was registered against Rahul at Pan Bazar police station in Guwahati, Assam, on January 19, 2025, for the same statement.
There is also a case of dual citizenship pending against Rahul in Allahabad High Court. Justice Subhash Vidyarthi, whose court was supposed to hear the petition, has recused himself.
