This Article is From Oct 18, 2012

Case against Rahul Gandhi without substance, hurt his reputation: Supreme Court

Case against Rahul Gandhi without substance, hurt his reputation: Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who had been accused by another politician of kidnapping a girl in Uttar Pradesh and gang-raping her with his friends.

"The allegation is without substance and without an iota of evidence," the judges said. They fined Kishore Samrite Rs 10 lakh; he is a former Samajwadi Party state legislator in Uttar Pradesh. Half of his penalty is due to Mr Gandhi, the other is meant for the girl who he said had been raped.

The court said that Mr Gandhi's reputation and that of his family had been damaged by the lawsuit.

The Congress has hailed the Supreme Court order and indirectly attacked anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal over his allegations against party leaders over the past few weeks.

"Congress never used such tools... It is our effort to remain a picture of the entire society," Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi said. "(Winning) on the basis of crime is not acceptable to the Congress. Everybody should be concerned about this," he added.

Mr Samrite, had alleged that on December 3, 2006 Rahul Gandhi and his six friends who were in Amethi, had abducted a girl and raped her.

The CBI was asked to investigate the allegations last year by the Allahabad High Court which was hearing the case at the time. The investigating agency told the Supreme Court  last month that the charges against Mr Gandhi are baseless.


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