Karnataka High Court junks PIL against Rahul Gandhi, Kapil Sibal over alleged missing volume of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that sought answers about an alleged 'missing' volume of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, My Experiments with Truth.

The petitioner sought these answers from Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, and former Supreme Court Bar Association President Kapil Sibal and the Central and State Education Ministries.

A Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi, however, dismissed the plea, opining that it was vague.

The plea was filed last year by an organisation named Jagrutha Karnataka, Jagrutha Bharatha, represented by its President KN Manjunatha, who appeared before the Court in-person.

The petitioner claimed that there were serious gaps in Indian history, including in the history textbooks taught in schools across the country, on events concerning India's freedom struggle and its partition.

The petitioner argued that such gaps and a distortion of Indian history have had a destabilizing effect on the country and have led to differences between political parties.

The petitioner also wrote several letters seeking answers to questions on these historical gaps, many of which concerned Mahatma Gandhi's absence from Independence Day celebrations that took place on August 15, 1947, in Delhi.

These included questions on why Gandhi's presence was allegedly not insisted upon for the August 1947 Delhi event by the Congress party or Jawaharlal Nehru.

Another question posed was regarding the alleged missing 'volume 2' of Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography, which the petitioner claimed covered events surrounding the freedom struggle and India's independence from 1927 to 1947.

The petitioner implied that the Congress Party and Nehru did not publish this volume. The petitioner further questioned whether the publication of this alleged missing volume was banned.

Having received no responses to his letters, the petitioner eventually filed a plea before the Karnataka High Court in 2024, seeking directions so that "authentic information" is provided regarding the alleged missing volume of Gandhi's work.

The petitioner also sought directions for the production of a photo of Gandhi participating in the 1947 Independence Day celebrations in Delhi, to verify his claims.

Moreover, he sought directions from the Court to compel replies to answers that he had sent to various parties (opposition parties and leaders, the Lok Sabha Speaker and then-SCBA President Kapil Sibal) between 2023 and 2024.

However, the Court found no reason to entertain this plea and dismissed it.