New Delhi: Pankaj Phadnis, the researcher penalised by a special MP/MLA court in Pune on Wednesday (August 19), has approached the Bombay high court with a fresh plea related to the so-called Savarkar defamation case against Rahul Gandhi. He now wants the high court to order a stay on the proceedings in Pune, which relate to a defamation case brought by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s grandnephew against the Congress leader.The Pune court had dismissed Phadnis’s bid to enter that defamation suit on Monday (August 17) and imposed a Rs 20,000 penalty.As per a Live Law report, Phadnis has moved the high court to not just stay the Pune proceedings but also reconsider what that court had refused to do: accept his (Phadnis’s) plea that disrespecting Savarkar violates his ‘right to a meaningful life’ under Article 19 of the constitution.He also wants an amicus curiae appointed in the Pune defamation case.Phadnis wants the high court to limit the scope of evidence and cross-examination ongoing in the Pune court, arguing that Savarkar has many followers. He said the special court should not try to determine whether Savarkar was a “coward” or “brave”.In June, Satyaki, Savarkar’s grandnephew as well as Nathuram Godse’s great-nephew, told the special court in Pune that Savarkar filed 10 mercy petitions in British custody, while Bhagat Singh and others never buckled, Live Law reported.Satyaki’s controversial revelations over the last few months have come during Rahul Gandhi’s legal team’s cross-examination of witnesses, which began in January. He is being examined because it is he who moved the court against Rahul Gandhi’s allegedly defamatory remarks.Another admission by Satyaki was that the “swatantryaveer” title was not given to Savarkar by any government.Soon after a series of such admissions, Satyaki’s lawyers moved the special court to speed up this matter, with his lawyers claiming that cross-examination was causing their client “mental agony”.And after reading the news about his statements on the mercy petitions by Savarkar, according to Live Law, Phadnis decided to approach the Pune court. Both Satyaki and Gandhi’s lawyers opposed his entering the case.When that attempt to intervene in the case failed, Phadnis approached the high court.“I was shocked to see a newspaper report on June 15, 2026 that showed that the defamation case was proceeding on subjects that had nothing to do with the complaint filed by Satyaki against Gandhi. An individual’s contribution to freedom struggle and whether he was brave or not cannot be subject matter of judicial determination. That lies in the domain of the Parliament, which has already spoken on the subject by displaying his portrait in the Parliament by unanimous consent of all political parties including the Indian National Congress,” the plea reads.Interestingly, Phadnis’s application before the high court is not a new suit but an addition to a pre-existing PIL he has before that court, in which he sought orders related to “creating awareness” about Savarkar.Phadnis has claimed in court that Savarkar was “secular” and believed in a heterogeneous India. He previously filed a plea contending that Rahul Gandhi was “violating fundamental duties” by making comments against Savarkar. This petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2025On Monday (August 17) Satyaki said in the Pune court that Nathuram Godse and Gopal Godse were active members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and accused of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi. He affirmed that Nathuram shot and killed Mahatma Gandhi, for which he got the death penalty.The developments are extraordinary because Satyaki’s suit against Rahul Gandhi was filed after he allegedly said that Savarkar once wrote about having found it “pleasurable” to assault a Muslim man.However, during court proceedings, he has had to acknowledge numerous historical events, including crimes committed by his relative, ones they were accused of, as well as their acts of omission and commission.