Prateek Tanmay
3 min readPuneJul 2, 2026 11:43 AM IST
During a cross-examination before a special MP/MLA court in Pune Wednesday in connection with a defamation suit, Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of V D Savarkar, said the Kakinada session of the Indian National Congress in 1923 had passed a resolution to release the freedom fighter from jail.
Satyaki Savarkar had filed a defamation suit against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for a speech he delivered to members of the Indian diaspora in London in March 2023.
Rahul Gandhi, who is now the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, allegedly said V D Savarkar had written a book in which he stated that he and some of his friends felt delighted by beating up a Muslim.
During his cross-examination by Gandhi’s counsel, Milind Pawar, Wednesday, Satyaki claimed the Congress resolution was passed because Savarkar’s popularity was increasing day by day, and public pressure was building up for his release.
Satyaki further claimed before the court that if the Congress had passed a similar resolution before the execution of freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru, their execution may have been avoided.
Savarkar was lodged in Cellular Jail (also known as Kala Pani) at Andaman from 1911 to 1921. He was then transferred to the mainland, to Ratnagiri jail, from where he was granted conditional release in 1924, and confined to Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra till 1937.
Congress resolution
When contacted, Satyaki Savarkar said he would submit a copy of the Indian National Congress resolution at the next hearing.
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“Mr. Savarkar, as you know, received a life sentence from this Bureaucracy. His brother also received, I believe, the same sentence. And, I may add, as a prisoner myself, I occupied the room in the Bijapur jail where the brother of Sjt. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Sj. Ganesh Savarkar was living. Mr. Ganesh Savarkar has been released,” the resolution states.
A copy of the 1923 Indian National Congress resolution from the National Archives of India.
“But Mr. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar has not been released and this is the reason why we are making an exception in condemning the action of the Government with regard to one single prisoner. The reason is that this poor man is being most vindictively kept in jail, when he is entitled to be released,” it adds.
Veer Savarkar’s pleas
Satyaki also claimed that it was incorrect to say that the language used in the pleas filed by V D Savarkar himself was “submissive” or “expressed loyalty” to the British government.
“Savarkar was not released due to mercy petitions… My complaint is not related to who has submitted how many petitions and who was released. Therefore, I did not file any document in that respect,” Satyaki Savarkar said in the court on Wednesday.
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Satyaki said his contention is that V D Savarkar had not written any such book as claimed by Rahul Gandhi in his London speech, nor has such an incident ever happened.
As per the court’s directions, the Pune City police conducted an inquiry and submitted a report on May 27, 2024, stating that Rahul Gandhi had allegedly defamed V D Savarkar in his speech.
Rahul Gandhi pleaded not guilty in the defamation case in July last year. The next hearing is on July 7.
