Mumbai: Justice N R Borkar of Bombay HC on Tuesday reserved for order a petition filed by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi against summons issued to him by a court over a criminal defamation complaint.Gandhi, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha, had challenged a Girgaum magistrate’s Aug 28, 2019, order for a process against him on a complaint filed by a BJP politician, M H Shrishrimal. The complaint alleged that Gandhi had defamed PM Minister Narendra Modi in a public speech in Sept 2018 in Rajasthan. In July 2021, the magistrate summoned the Congress MP in a complaint that is “baseless and vexatious”, said Gandhi’s counsel Sudeep Pasbola and advocate Kushal Mor. The complainant through advocate Rohan Mahadik opposed Gandhi’s quashing petition on preliminary grounds of maintainability. Advocate general Milind Sathe appeared in the matter to assist on legal issues, and on concluding the hearing on maintainability on Tuesday, HC reserved it for orders. TNN
