The court of Judicial Magistrate of First Class on Thursday ordered Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Rajesh Kunte to pay ₹1,000 as fine to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case. The order came after the complainant, Kunte, moved an adjournment application.
The court had postponed the hearing in March after rejecting the request of the complainant to apply to produce another notary witness from Delhi. The hearing in the case filed against the Congress leader by Kunte was supposed to begin on a day-to-day basis. It was, however, adjourned a second time on Thursday and the court asked the complainant to pay a fine.
Defence lawyer Narayan Iyer said, “The complainant requested for adjournment on Thursday again, but the court rejected the application and asked him to pay ₹1,000 to Rahul Gandhi. It also ordered him to produce evidence and witnesses on the next date of hearing on May 10.”
Gandhi in one of his speeches in 2014 had blamed the RSS for the death of Mahatma Gandhi, following which the defamation suit was filed in the Bhiwandi court. The court had framed charges against Gandhi in 2018.
