Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader and Member of Parliament (MP), has taken legal action by approaching the Bombay High Court to request the dismissal of a defamation case filed against him in 2017. This case pertains to allegations that he connected the right-wing RSS organization to the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bangalore.

Rahul Gandhi has filed a legal challenge that specifically targets a 2019 order issued by the Borivali Magistrate. This order rejected his request to dismiss a defamation complaint filed by an RSS ideologue and lawyer.

The case was scheduled to be heard by Justice Sarang Kotwal on Tuesday but was later adjourned to December 5.

The Congress leader argues that he has been unjustly implicated as a defendant in the case. He contends that he, along with CPI(M) Secretary Sitaram Yechuri, has been accused in relation to statements they allegedly made separately, at different times and locations, following Gauri Lankesh's murder. In his plea, Rahul Gandhi contends that the complaint itself is in violation of Section 218 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). This section mandates separate charges for separate offenses. Rahul's argument is that the charges against him and Sitaram Yechuri should be distinct due to their separate statements made at different times and locations. The plea was filed on his behalf by advocate Kushal Mor.

In 2017, advocate Dhrutiman Joshi filed a private complaint against Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, and Sitaram Yechury under Section 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. These sections pertain to defamation under Indian law. The complaint, as contended by Dhrutiman Joshi, originated on September 6, 2017, the date when journalist Gauri Lankesh was tragically shot dead outside her home in Bangalore by unknown assailants. 

According to Dhrutiman Joshi, while watching the news, he claimed to have seen an interview with Rahul Gandhi outside the Parliament. In this interview, Rahul Gandhi allegedly made statements suggesting that anyone who spoke against the BJP-RSS ideology faced pressure, physical assaults, or even fatal attacks. 

Joshi alleged that in yet another interview, Sitaram Yechury stated to the media that the RSS was responsible for the murder of the journalist Gauri Lankesh. Joshi argued that these statements were made without any official proof or evidence and that they had the effect of diminishing the reputation of the RSS in the eyes of the general public.

According to the complaint, on February 18, 2019, the Magistrate court issued legal process against both Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury and summoned them to appear in court. Subsequently, on July 4, 2019, both Gandhi and Yechury appeared in court and sought bail. On that same day, the Magistrate recorded their pleas, which were related to the defamation charges filed against them.

On the following day after their court appearance, Rahul Gandhi filed an application seeking to quash the complaint. His grounds for this request were that the statements allegedly made by him and Sitaram Yechury were admitted to have occurred at different places and times. Therefore, he argued that there could not be a joint trial for these statements, making the complaint legally flawed and warranting dismissal.

On November 23, 2019, the Magistrate rejected both applications, one submitted by Gandhi and the other by Yechury.

The Congress leader has now taken the case to the Bombay High Court after the rejection order. The argument is that the Magistrate made an error in concluding that since the statements are related to the murder of Gauri Lankesh, they pertain to the same incident and thus the intention of Accused Nos. 1 and 3 was to defame the RSS.

Gandhi argued that he could be tried alongside Yechury only if the alleged offense committed by them was part of the same transaction. 

The plea aims to annul and invalidate the order rejecting the dismissal application, leading to the dismissal of the complaint against Gandhi, and the withdrawal of the legal process initiated against him.