In Court, V.D. Savarkar's Grandnephew Says Title of 'Swatantryaveer’ Was Not Conferred to Him by Any Govt
New Delhi: Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar has said that the title ‘Swatantryaveer’ was not given to Savarkar by any government, but by writer Sadashiv Ranade in a biography. Satyaki made the remarks while testifying before a special MP/MLA court in Pune, reported The Hindu.
Satyaki, who is the complainant in the criminal defamation case against Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi and has alleged in his petition that Gandhi had made alleged derogatory remarks against Savarkar.
“It is true to say that the ‘Swatantryaveer’ title is not granted by [any] government to Savarkar. It is not true to say that the title of Swatantryaveer was not bestowed upon him by the people,” Satyaki said before Special Judge Amol Shinde on Wednesday (April 8) while being cross-examined by Gandhi’s counsel Milind Pawar.
Satyaki added that he is not in possession of any document which can show that the public had conferred the title of ‘Swatantryaveer’ on Savarkar.
“It is true to say that the title of Swatantryaveer is given to Savarkar in the biography written by Sadashiv Ranade. I do not know whether the title given to Savarkar by Ranade was his imagination,” he stated.
During the cross examination, Satyaki also accepted that Savarkar went to London for studies during British rule and lived there for four years, reported The Hindu.
He also agreed to the fact that Savarkar had written several books and articles during that period, and that some of these works were published under pseudonyms to avoid attention from British authorities. Satyaki said that he could not tell what these books contain.
According to the complaint filed by Satyaki, Gandhi had claimed during the speech in London in March 2023 that V.D. Savarkar had written in a “book” that “he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man, and he (Savarkar) felt happy”.
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