In a significant setback for Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the Delhi high court on Monday rejected their petitions in the National Herald case, effectively asking them to appear prior to the high court.
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Following the High Court’s order, the Congress leaders will have to appear before a Metropolitan Magistrate in whose court the hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
“I am not scared of anyone”, a combative Congress President Sonia Gandhi asserted on Tuesday, invoking the legacy of the late Prime Minister in the wake of the National Herald case. They have the right to put their views in the court.
Swamy, who has filed the case, however, told the court that there are seven accused in the case and today’s date was fixed in September itself.
The court, in its judgement, has additionally questioned the necessity for extending curiosity-free mortgage to Associated Journals Ltd (AJL) the publishers of National Herald. Referring to the complaint by Swamy, the court said that “the transactions of the Congress party with AJL via YI are not mere commercial transactions as these transactions legitimately attract the allegations of cheating, fraud, breach of trust, misappropriation, etc”.
A Single Bench of Justice Sunil Gaur pronounced the judgment at 2.15 pm today to a court packed with journalists and lawyers representing both sides.
The court had summoned Sonia Gandhi and her son to appear before it on August 7 in connection with the case, hence it would be interesting to see if they get any relief from the court in the case.
Otherwise, the mother-son duo run the risk of the judge issuing an arrest warrant against them which will further complicate matters as the judge might also make adverse comments against them, they said.
Filing the plea in the high court, the Congress leaders had said Swamy was a political opponent and the present criminal proceedings were initiated only with an intent to secure an oblique political objective.
Singhvi said he told the court that Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi were willing to appear before the court and that they had no intentions of evading trial. It claimed “several legal deficiencies” in the verdict.
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The Congress leaders had, thereafter, on July 30, 2014, moved the high court which had stayed the summons on August 6, last year. “We have a strong case and we are sure that we will legally win this case”.
