From Our Correspondent
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday quashed a criminal complaint and the summons issued against Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his 2022 remarks on Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, holding that the prosecution was invalid due to the absence of mandatory prior sanction from the Uttar Pradesh government under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu allowed Gandhi’s plea after examining the affidavit filed by the State of Uttar Pradesh. The court noted that there was no disclosure of any sanction having been granted. “In such view of the matter, orders passed by the Magistrate shall be quashed,” the bench observed, setting aside both the complaint and the Lucknow magistrate’s summoning order.
Under Section 196 of the CrPC, no court can take cognizance of offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code without the previous sanction of the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be. These provisions are designed to prevent frivolous or politically motivated prosecutions involving sensitive issues of public order and communal harmony. In the present case, the UP government had not granted the required sanction, rendering the proceedings unsustainable in law.
The controversy stemmed from comments made by Gandhi on November 17, 2022, during the Bharat Jodo Yatra at a rally in Akola, Maharashtra. He had described Savarkar as a collaborator with the British who received a pension from the colonial rulers. Advocate Nripendra Pandey filed a private complaint alleging that the remarks were intended to insult Savarkar, create enmity, and spread ill-will in society.
Pandey initially approached an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate seeking registration of an FIR. The magistrate dismissed the complaint in June 2023. The sessions court later allowed Pandey’s challenge and remanded the matter. In December 2024, a Lucknow magistrate found a prima facie case under Sections 153A and 505 IPC and issued summons to Gandhi.
Gandhi challenged the summons before the Allahabad High Court, which in April 2025 declined to interfere and advised him to approach the sessions court by way of revision. He then moved the Supreme Court. In an earlier hearing, the same bench had stayed the proceedings but strongly criticised the remarks as irresponsible, warning that any repetition could invite suo motu action. The judges had also recalled that former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had written a letter praising Savarkar.
On Friday, however, the absence of the statutory sanction under Section 196 CrPC proved decisive. When the Additional Solicitor General and counsel for the complainant confirmed that no such sanction had been granted or disclosed, Justice Datta observed that once the mandatory requirement is not fulfilled, “it’s the end of the matter.” The court rejected a request for remand to the magistrate.The ruling provides significant relief to Gandhi in this specific case arising from the 2022 remarks. Separate defamation proceedings related to other statements on Savarkar, including those pending in Maharashtra courts, remain unaffected. Legal experts noted that the judgment turns strictly on the procedural bar under Section 196 CrPC rather than a detailed examination of the merits of the remarks. The detailed written order is awaited.