SC stays proceedings against Rahul Gandhi

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the proceedings against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamataion case before a trial court in Maharashtra for allegedly blaming RSS for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

“There shall be stay of further proceedings in a case pending before the trial court till the next date of hearing,”a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and PC Pant said.

The case against Gandhi is pending before a magisterial court in Bhiwandi in Thane district of Maharashtra. The Apex Court also issued notices to the Centre and an RSS activist who had filed the complaint, seeking their reply within four weeks and posted the matter for hearing on July 8.

The Bench tagged Gandhi’s petition, in which he has challenged the constitutional validity of the panel provisions dealing with criminal defamation, along with that of politicians of rival parities – Subramanian Swamy and Arvind Kejriwal.