Savarkar Defamation Case: CD Found Blank; Pune Court Refuses Complainant's Request To Play Rahul Gandhi's Speech Directly From YouTube

In an interesting development in the ongoing defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for allegedly defaming right-wing leader Vinayak Savarkar in his speech at London, a special MP/MLA Court in Pune dismissed a plea to play the video of the speech in question, which is uploaded in Gandhi's YouTube Channel.Notably, Savarkar's grand nephew Satyaki has filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi for using objectionable and derogatory language against Savarkar. Special Judge Amol Shinde is seized with the case which has reached the stage of examination-in-chief of the complainant. As per an order dated November 14, when the court played the Compact Disc (CD) purportedly containing the defamatory speech, the same was found to be "blank."This CD was submitted in the court by Satyaki at the time of filing his complaint before the court.When the said CD turned out to be blank, Satyaki then moved an application urging the court to directly play the speech video from Gandhi's YouTube Channel. He had also furnished the link of the said video before the court along with the CD. However, advocate Milind Pawar appearing for Gandhi objected to the same arguing that Satyaki wasn't the owner of the YouTube Channel in question. Having heard the contentions of both the sides, Judge Shinde in his order pointed out that when the CD filed by Satyaki was being run on the court's laptop and also computer, it was found blank and there was no data in it. The judge noted that Satyaki had also annexed a mandatory certificate under section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act to the CD. "The certificate cannot be used for the URL mentioned in the complaint which is sought to be played by the complainant. The URL is not supported by certificate as per section 65-B of the Indian Evidence Act. Therefore, the URL is not admissible in evidence," the judge held. The complainant filed the instant complaint on hearing the alleged defamatory speech of the accused in the year 2023, the special court noted, adding, "The case is filed for the cause of action arose in the year 2023 when the accused delivered, telecasted and circulated the alleged defamatory speech. Therefore, this court cannot play the URL in the court. The complainant has to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt. This court does not find any merits in the application. The application of the complainant is liable to be rejected."With these observations the court dismissed Satyaki's application to play the YouTube video in the courtroom.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Savarkar Defamation Case: CD Found Blank; Pune Court Refuses Complainant's Request To Play Rahul Gandhi's Speech Directly From YouTube

Narsi Benwal

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