MUMBAI: Rahul Gandhi on Friday got an 80-day breather from having to travel to Bhiwandi to face defamation proceedings in the court there. The court adjourned hearings on the case to January 17.
The Congress vice-president is being sued by the RSS for accusing it of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.
The adjournment was due to the transfer of magistrate Tushar Vaze. The case was assigned to magistrate S G Barde. However, since Barde is also in charge of the juvenile court and has to attend to cases three days a week, he could not hear the RSS defamation case.
The case is at a juncture at which charges against the Congress leader are to be framed. During the last hearing on July 28 too Rahul had skipped appearance citing the reason that he had to attend the monsoon session of Parliament. The court granted the adjournment.
While adjourning the hearing on Friday, the court asked the Congress veep to be present in person at the next hearing on January 17, 2018.
The case against Rahul Gandhi was filed by a local RSS functionary, Rajesh Kunte, after the Congress leader said in a speech at Bhiwandi on 6 March, 2014 that, "the RSS people killed (Mahatma) Gandhi."