A special court in Pune on Thursday dismissed an application filed by Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, seeking to compel Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to produce a book he had allegedly referenced while making remarks against Savarkar during a 2023 speech in London.

Judge Amol Shinde, presiding over the special court for MPs and MLAs, ruled that Gandhi cannot be forced to produce the book at this stage of the proceedings, holding that such a direction would violate the Congress MP’s constitutional right against self-incrimination.

“The accused may produce any relevant documents during the presentation of his defense evidence. If the accused is compelled to produce such evidence prematurely, it would amount to a violation of his fundamental rights under Article 20(3) of the Constitution,” the court stated.

Article 20(3) provides that no person accused of an offence shall be compelled to be a witness against themselves. The judge emphasized that Gandhi cannot be ordered to disclose or submit material that may form part of his defense before the commencement of the trial.

Satyaki Savarkar had filed the application in May, asserting that no such book as referred to by Gandhi exists, and that Gandhi should be asked to substantiate the claim by producing it. In his main defamation complaint, he alleged that Gandhi falsely stated in his London speech that V.D. Savarkar had written in a book that he and some of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and felt happy about it.

Savarkar maintains that no such incident ever occurred, nor was it recorded by the late freedom fighter, and that Gandhi’s remarks were defamatory.