Congress MP Rahul Gandhi moved the Bombay High Court seeking to quash a defamation complaint against him over his remarks allegedly linking the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) with the murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in 2017.
The case against him cannot be clubbed with the one filed against Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury as they made the statements on different occasions and belong to two different parties with distinct or even opposite ideologies, Mr Gandhi's petition said.
Justice SV Kotwal posted the plea for hearing on December 5.
Dhrutiman Joshi, a lawyer, filed a private complaint before a magistrate in Mumbai in 2017 against Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi, and Mr Yechury, seeking action against them for the alleged defamation under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
In 2019, the magistrate's court dismissed the case against Sonia Gandhi but issued notice to Rahul Gandhi and Sitaram Yechury.
Both filed an application seeking to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that they should not be put on trial jointly.
The magistrate's court, however, rejected the application, following which Rahul Gandhi moved the High Court in August this year.
He and Sitaram Yechury are from different political parties with very distinct and even opposite ideologies. A joint trial will cause prejudice to Mr Gandhi's case, the Congress leader's petition said.
"The statements made by Accused No. 1 (Rahul Gandhi) and Accused No. 3 (Sitaram Yechury) are independent statements made by different individuals at different points of time and there is no community of purpose, continuity of action by which it could be inferred that what they have spoken is in consequence of common design and their acts are connected with each other," the plea said.
Rahul Gandhi is facing several defamation cases. He was convicted by a Surat court earlier this year but the conviction was eventually stayed by the Supreme Court.
Gauri Lankesh, a Bengaluru-based journalist and activist, was murdered outside her home on September 5, 2017, allegedly by right-wing extremists.
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