Tushar Gandhi approaches SC opposing reprobe of Mahatma Gandhi assassination

October 30, 2017

Tushar Gandhi opposed reprobe in Gadhi's assasination case

A plea opposing the reopening of 69-year-old Mahatma Gandhi's assassination case was filed in the Supreme Court by Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. The division bench of Justice S A Bobde and Justice M M Shantanagoudar raised a doubt regarding the locus standi of Tushar Gandhi in the case. Gandhi's counsel Indira Jaising said she will explain the locus standi of Tushar Gandhi if the court moves ahead with issuing of notice. The court opposed Gandhi's counsel request and said it would like to wait for the amicus curiae Amrender Sharan's report. Amicus curiae sought 4 weeks time from the court to submit the report, as the information and documents sought from the National Archives were not received. Gandhi's counsel said she is opposing the reopening of the assassination case of Gandhi and also questioned the locus standi of the petitioner, Pankaj Phandis. Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation was shot dead at point-blank range in New Delhi on January 30, 1948, by Nathuram Vinayak Godse, a right-wing advocate of Hindu nationalism. The petitioner has sought to reprobe on several grounds, claiming it was one of the biggest cover-ups in the history. Earlier, when Phadnis has challenged the decision of the Bombay High Court which on June 6, 2016 had dismissed his PIL on two grounds- firstly, that the findings of fact have been recorded by the competent court and confirmed right up to the apex court, and secondly, the Kapur Commission has submitted its report and made observations in 1969, while the present petition has been filed 46 years later. The bench scheduled the next hearing after four weeks.