Rahul Gandhi in legal trouble, court accepts plea against Congress leader over...

An MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on Monday accepted for hearing a petition filed against Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his statement on Sikhs during a visit to the United States. Advocate Vivek Shankar Tiwari said a petition had been filed in the court regarding an alleged objectionable statement made by Gandhi about Sikhs during his US visit in September last year. It was dismissed by the additional chief judicial magistrate (special MP-MLA court) after hearing on November 28 last year.

Gandhi accused of hurting sentiments
Advocate Vivek Shankar Tiwari said a revision petition was filed in the Sessions Court and Additional District and Sessions Judge, Varanasi (MP-MLA court), Yajuvendra Vikram Singh accepted the plea on Monday for hearing. In the petition, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha has been accused of hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community with his "inflammatory" statement made in the US. It has also been claimed in the petition that Khalistani terrorist Gurwant Singh Pannu had supported Gandhi's statement.

Gandhi made remarks at Washington event
On September 9, 2024, Gandhi had said at an event organised by the Indian diaspora in Washington that religious and linguistic minorities in India were under a threat. Addressing a Sikh member of the audience, Gandhi had said: "The fight is about whether he as a Sikh is going to be allowed to wear his turban in India or a kada in India. Or he, as a Sikh, is going to be able to go to gurdwara. That’s what the fight is about. And not just for him, for all religions."

(With inputs from news agency PTI).