Savarkar Filed 5 Mercy Petitions, Saw Cow as 'Useful Animal', Says Complainant in Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case

New Delhi: A Special MP/MLA Court in Pune has been informed that Vinayak Damodar Savarkar filed multiple mercy petitions to the British authorities. The testimony was given in an ongoing criminal defamation case filed by Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Savarkar, against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in 2023 over alleged defamatory remarks made in London.

During cross-examination on Saturday (May 2), Satyaki confirmed that Savarkar had submitted five mercy petitions while lodged in Cellular Jail in the Andaman Islands, said a report in LiveLaw. He added that such petitions were not unusual, noting that “many political prisoners have sent similar petitions to the British Government”.

Historical accounts indicate that Savarkar wrote several petitions between 1911 and 1920 seeking release from prison, the BBC reported in October 2013. This report came days after defence minister Rajnath Singh said it was Mahatma Gandhi who asked Savarkar to write his mercy petitions.

In at least one petition, Savarkar is known to have expressed willingness to adopt “constitutional” methods of political activity and refrain from revolutionary activities. An extract of one of Savarkar's petitions, published in Sabrang India, reads as follows:

...if the [British] Government wants a further security from me then I and my brother are perfectly willing to give a pledge of not participating in politics for a definite and reasonable period that the Government would indicate…of remaining in a particular province or reporting our movements to the police for a definite period after our release – any such reasonable conditions meant genuinely to ensure the safety of the State would be gladly accepted by me and my brother…

On the question of writing petitions, the author of the Sabrang India piece, Shamsul Islam wrote:

There were other revolutionaries in the Cellular Jail who, too, wrote petitions to the British Government. Apart from Savarkar, Hrishi Kesh Kanjilal, Barindra Kumar Ghose and Nand Gopal also wrote petitions. However, these were only Savarkar and Barindra Ghose (Aurobindo Ghose’s brother) who pleaded to renounce their revolutionary past in order to secure personal freedom.

Conditions in the Cellular Jail, where Savarkar was imprisoned, were extremely harsh, including solitary confinement, forced labour and physical punishment. Prisoners were subjected to exhausting work such as oil extraction and faced starvation-level rations and frequent abuse, according to an excerpt from Arun Shourie’s book The New Icon: Savarkar and the Facts, published on The Wire. The account notes that many prisoners died from disease, overwork and malnutrition, and that Savarkar’s health deteriorated significantly during his incarceration.

Shourie writes that “someone should do everything that he could to get out of the place is perfectly understandable” given the conditions. At the same time, he notes that the petitions have drawn criticism partly because of the contrast between Savarkar’s pleas and the defiant stance of revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh. Shourie writes:

Why then have the petitions attracted so much censure and derision?

The first, of course, is the contrast with what Bhagat Singh and others said as they faced execution. Recall Ram Prasad Bismil mounting the gallows with Bismil Azimabadi’s Sarfaroshi ki tammana ab hamaare dil mein hai on his lips.

The second is the halo that has been stuck around Savarkar. When people read the petitions, they naturally wonder whether a ‘Veer’ would plead in this way.

During the hearing on May 2, Satyaki declined to engage with comparisons between Savarkar and other revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh, stating that it was the task of the government of India to "bring national glory", said LiveLaw. He declined to answer why Savarkar is glorified more than other revolutionists like Bhagat Singh, Batukeshwar Dutt and others.

Similar objections were raised in past hearings in this case as well, when Satyaki had objected to the introduction of historical facts as evidence by Member of Parliament and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi's counsels, as reported by The Wire in February 2025.

When asked during the Saturday hearing if Savarkar was the ideological inspiration for the Sangh Parivar and parties associated with it, Satyaki said he was unaware of who the RSS regards as inspiring, LiveLaw reported.

On the issue of military recruitment of Indians in the service of the British, Satyaki acknowledged that Savarkar had appealed for Indians to join the British Army during World War II, but argued that the intention was to enable Indians to gain military training for a future independent state.

In his London speech, Rahul Gandhi allegedly said that Savarkar had written to the British authorities seeking mercy and expressing willingness to serve them. He also claimed that Savarkar had written that he and others had beaten a Muslim man and that he felt “happy” about it.

Satyaki has claimed that no such incident about Savarkar is mentioned in his works.

According to a report in Aeon citing the pamphlet Essentials of Hindutva (1923), written by Savarkar in prison, he "advocated violence against Muslims" as the principal means to paper over caste differences in Hindu society. According to the report, from February 2024, Savarkar wrote:

Nothing makes Self conscious of itself so much as a conflict with non-self. Nothing can weld peoples into a nation and nations into a state as the pressure of a common foe. Hatred separates as well as unites.

He also stated in court that Savarkar “never referred [to] a cow as a God but only as a useful animal”, reported LiveLaw. Shourie’s book, as The Wire report cited earlier explains, has established that Savarkar was not a cow-worshiper and wasn’t against beef-eating.

The cross-examination in the present defamation suit is scheduled to continue on 1 June.

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