A Varanasi court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to summon Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and initiate action against him for allegedly referring to Lord Ram as a fictional character during a speech at Brown University in April 2025.

The petition, filed on May 12 by advocate Harishankar Pandey in the MP/MLA court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Niraj Kumar Tripathi, alleged that Gandhi's remarks hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus and amounted to hate speech. Pandey claimed that during his April 21 address in the United States, Gandhi described Lord Ram as a "mythological and fictitious figure," which, he argued, was offensive to followers of Sanatan Dharma.

Citing the alleged comment, Pandey sought action under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups based on religion), 351 (criminal intimidation), 353 (statement causing public nuisance), and 356 (defamation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

The court had reserved its order after hearing Pandey’s submissions on May 19.

In its ruling on May 27, the court dismissed the petition on the grounds that the required sanction from the district magistrate and the state government had not been obtained. “The plea has been dismissed as not maintainable,” the order stated.

Reacting to the dismissal, Pandey said, “I will file a revision petition before the district judge.”