Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, has been permanently exempted from having to appear in the criminal defamation cases that have been brought against him as a result of a complaint made by Rajesh Kunte, the leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

After Gandhi claimed in one of his lectures that the RSS was to blame for Mahatma Gandhi's passing, the RSS leader filed the defamation lawsuit. Since 2014, the case has been in progress before the judicial magistrate of Bhiwandi, Maharashtra.

Gandhi had appeared before the magistrate in June 2018 and entered a not-guilty plea; this was followed by the start of the trial.

Gandhi filed an application in 2022 asking for a permanent exemption from appearing in court on the grounds that he had to visit his seat and handle party business because he was a Member of Parliament.

On April 1, an application contesting the exemption was submitted by attorney Prabhod Jaywant, who was representing the complaint. He added fresh information to the record, such as Gandhi's conviction in a defamation lawsuit by a Surat court, the two-year sentence he received, and his subsequent exclusion from the House of Representatives.

When Gandhi appeared, advocate NV Iyyer said that his client had contested the decision made by the Surat court. He further claimed that the recently made developments cannot invalidate or disregard the previously submitted exemption application.

Judicial magistrate LC Wadikar approved the permanent exemption application today after carefully hearing from all sides. The judge will now commence with recording of evidence from June 3, 2023.

The Surat court had on March 23 sentenced Rahul Gandhi to 2 years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “why all thieves have Modi surname” remarks. The court also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for one month time to allow him to appeal in a higher court. The next day, he was disqualified as a member of the Lok Sabha.

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