VARANASI/ LUCKNOW: The Varanasi court on Friday directed Congress leader and Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi, or his lawyer, to appear before it on the next hearing date, December 18, after neither of them turned up for proceedings in a case related to his alleged remarks on Lord Ram.

The matter was listed before the court of Special Judge (MP-MLA) Yajurved Vikram Singh, but the hearing had to be postponed due to their absence.

Rahul Gandhi is accused of calling Lord Ram “fictional” during an interaction at Brown University in the United States. In response, advocate Harishankar Pandey filed a revision petition in the Varanasi court.

Advocate Pandey had earlier submitted a petition on May 12 this year, alleging that during Gandhi’s session with students at Brown University on April 21, he described Lord Shri Ram as “mythological” and stories from that period as “fictional.”
The complaint further alleged that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party had repeatedly insulted Hindus and symbols of Sanatan Dharma. The court will first examine the maintainability of the petition.