The Gauhati High Court has set aside a trial court order that had allowed additional witnesses to be examined in a nine-year-old criminal defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, PTI reported.
In an order issued on Monday, Justice Arun Dev Choudhury quashed the Kamrup Metropolitan additional sessions judge’s September 2023 decision that allowed three new witnesses in the case filed by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker Anjan Kumar Bora.
The High Court said that the application for summoning more witnesses was “vague and bereft of particulars” and upheld the trial court magistrate’s earlier decision from March 2023 to reject it.
The additional sessions court had “mechanically interfered” with a reasoned order without finding any procedural error or need for new witnesses, the judge added.
The High Court directed the trial court to conclude the proceedings expeditiously and added that Gandhi is a sitting MP and the case has been pending since 2016.
In 2015, Gandhi had visited Assam’s Barpeta Satra, where he alleged that RSS workers had prevented his entry. After this, Bora filed a defamation complaint, claiming the remarks were false and defamatory.
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