Court Fines Rahul Gandhi ₹200 for Skipping Appearance in 2022 Defamation Case:

The court also mandated that the payment go towards the complainant's lawyer. In his absence, Gandhi’s team filed an application requesting that he be excused from appearing in person. Rahul Gandhi, the Lok Sabha’s Leader of the Opposition, will now have to pay Rs 200 for failing to show up in court regarding the 2022 defamation case of his supposed insulting comments on the freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Alok Verma, initially summoned him for a hearing in December 2022 and to attend court in-person for this Wednesday. His legal team's request was granted. Now, the court has scheduled the following appearance for April 14. In today’s application, he claimed that the official commitments included encountering delegations of other foreign officials. This was foremost along with a pre-scheduled program which was the reason for him not being present at the predetermined time.

This case stems from comments made by Gandhi regarding Savarkar on the 17th of November, 2022 during the Bharat Jodo Yatra. His rally took place at Akola, in the Maharashtra district. At the rally, Advocate Nripendra Pandey accused Gandhi of making insulting remarks about Savarkar which led to his defamation complaint.

The complainant claimed that Gandhi's comments were deeply rooted in a broader and well orchestrated scheme meant to malign Savarkar’s image, and that these comments had gone public via the media.