Kunte filed a complaint before the Bhiwandi magistrate in 2014.
The Magistrate took cognizance of the complaint and summoned Gandhi for an appearance before the court.
This was challenged by Gandhi in High Court in 2014. He sought quashing of the criminal proceedings. In this petition, Gandhi annexed a transcript of the allegedly defamatory speech.
Even though Gandhi’s petition was dismissed by the High Court, Kunte contended before the magistrate that by annexing a copy of his speech in the petition, Gandhi unambiguously owned up to the speech.
The Magistrate Court, however, rejected this application which Kunte challenged before the High Court.
The High Court dismissed this petition in 2021 opining that merely because a document of Kunte was annexed to Gandhi’s petition, it would not make such a document a `public document’ thus giving a complete go-by to the Kunte from proving the same in accordance with law.
On June 3, 2023, during Kunte’s examination by the court, the Magistrate took on record the same 2014 writ petition including the annexures despite vehement opposition by Rahul Gandhi, prompting him to move the High Court.
Source: Barandbench
