‘Blank CD’ creates hurdle in Rahul Gandhi’s Savarkar defamation case; court blocks YouTube video playback

Pune: A Pune court hearing a defamation case against Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi has refused a request to play a YouTube video of the alleged defamatory speech after the CD submitted as the main evidence was found to contain no data. The case relates to Gandhi’s alleged 2023 comments about Hindu ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, based on a complaint filed by Satyaki Savarkar, Savarkar’s grand-nephew.

Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde is presiding over the matter in the special court dealing with cases involving MPs and MLAs. During Satyaki Savarkar’s examination-in-chief on 14 November, the CD that was filed as evidence and was expected to contain the video of the speech delivered in London could not be played because it was blank. The complainant then sought permission to play another CD, but the court noted that no such CD was recorded as part of the case documents.

Advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, representing the complainant, said the CD had played before a different judge when the case was registered in 2023 and had been submitted along with the URL of the YouTube video. However, the court on Thursday dismissed the request to play the YouTube link, observing that the certificate filed under Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act — which is mandatory for electronic evidence — applied only to the CD and not to the online URL.

Magistrate Shinde held that the YouTube link could not be accepted as evidence without a corresponding 65B certificate and therefore could not be played in court. Gandhi’s counsel Milind Pawar also opposed the request to rely on the YouTube link.

The court will continue hearing the case, which centres on whether Rahul Gandhi’s 2023 remarks amounted to defamation under the complaint filed by Satyaki Savarkar.