Allahabad High Court raps Rahul Gandhi: 'Free speech doesn't extend to defaming Army'

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came under sharp scrutiny from the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday over his controversial remarks about Indian soldiers during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra. The court, while rejecting his plea to quash a defamation case and summons issued by a Lucknow court, said: “No doubt, Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, but this freedom is subject to reasonable restrictions and does not include the freedom to make statements which are defamatory to the Indian Army.”

The case stems from a comment Gandhi made at a press conference in Rajasthan during the Yatra, where he said: “People will ask about Bharat Jodo Yatra, here and there, Ashok Gahlot and Sachin Pilot and what not. But they will not ask a single question about China capturing 2000 square kilometers of Indian territory, killing 20 Indian soldiers and thrashing our soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh. But the Indian press doesn’t ask a question to them about this. Isn’t it true? The nation is watching all this. Don’t pretend that people don’t know.”

A defamation complaint was filed in Uttar Pradesh by Uday Shankar Srivastava, a former Director of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), over Gandhi’s remark that Chinese troops were “thrashing Indian soldiers in Arunachal Pradesh.” Srivastava alleged the comments were defamatory and dishonoured the Indian armed forces.

Rahul Gandhi had moved the Allahabad High Court seeking to quash the criminal proceedings, arguing that the complainant was not a serving officer of the Indian Army and thus not an “aggrieved person.”

The High Court, however, disagreed. It ruled that under Section 199(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), a person other than the direct victim can also be deemed aggrieved if they are impacted by the offence. In this case, the court held that Srivastava, as a retired BRO Director equivalent in rank to a Colonel, met the threshold to be considered an “aggrieved person.”