Overview

• Pankaj Kumudchandra Phadnis, founding president of Abhinav Bharat Congress, filed a PIL asking the court to direct Rahul Gandhi to study his petition and published works on Savarkar.
• A division bench led by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Sandeep Marne ruled that under Article 226 it lacked authority to compel a legislator to read specific materials.
• The High Court referenced the Supreme Court’s May 27 order that dismissed Phadnis’s plea to include Savarkar in the Emblems and Names Act.
• Justices noted that a criminal defamation suit filed by Savarkar’s grandnephew against Gandhi is pending before a special MP/MLA court in Pune, with evidence set to begin July 29.
• The bench suggested that Phadnis seek relief through defamation proceedings rather than a public interest litigation.