Remarks on Savarkar: SC quashes criminal proceedings against Rahul
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court has quashed criminal proceedings against Congress leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his remarks about Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, holding that the case could not proceed because the Uttar Pradesh government had not granted the statutory sanction required for the court to take cognisance of the alleged offences, according to a report by Live Law.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu set aside the summons issued by the Lucknow trial court.
The complaint against Gandhi alleged offences under Sections 153A and 505 of the Indian Penal Code. Section 153A deals with promoting enmity between different groups, while Section 505 covers statements conducing to public mischief. Under Section 196(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, prior sanction of the Central or State Government or the District Magistrate is required before a court can take cognisance of offences under Section 153A. The Supreme Court's decision was based on the absence of that sanction.
Gandhi had challenged the summons after the Allahabad High Court declined to quash the proceedings. The case arose from remarks he made during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in Maharashtra in 2022, when he accused Savarkar of serving the British and receiving a pension from them. Advocate Nripendra Pandey subsequently filed the complaint, alleging that the remarks promoted enmity and caused social disharmony.
The Supreme Court had earlier stayed the proceedings in April 2025 and strongly criticised Gandhi's remarks, warning him against making further statements about freedom fighters. His counsel, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, had also raised the issue of the mandatory sanction during the earlier proceedings.
With the required sanction absent, the Supreme Court has now brought the Uttar Pradesh proceedings and the summons against Gandhi to an end. The ruling therefore rests on the procedural requirement governing the court's cognisance of the alleged Section 153A offence, rather than a finding on the merits of Gandhi's remarks about Savarkar.