Bombay High Court junks plea by litigant who wanted Rahul Gandhi to read his PIL petition to learn about Savarkar

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) petition alleging that Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi violated the petitioner's rights by making “immature” remarks about Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

The petition, filed by Dr Pankaj Phadnis, the founding president of Abhinav Bharat Congress, sought directions to Gandhi to read the petition in order to remove his ignorance about Savarkar.

The petition claimed that Gandhi, through his remarks, violated the petitioner’s legal right to discharge his fundamental duty “to cherish and follow the noble ideals that inspired the freedom struggle."

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne held that the Court cannot direct Gandhi “to read the contents of the PIL and remove his ignorance about Vinayak Savarkar.”

Recently, the Supreme Court had dismissed a PIL petition by the same petitioner seeking directions to "establish certain facts" about Savarkar and to prevent misuse of his name.

The plea before the top court had also sought inclusion of Savarkar's name in the schedule to the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 - a law intended to prevent the improper use of certain emblems and names for professional and commercial purposes.