Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (Veer Savarkar). Pankaj Phadnis has filed an interim application in the Bombay High Court on Wednesday (August 19, 2026) as part of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) he initiated in 2024 to raise awareness about Vinayak Savarkar. Through this application, Mr. Phadnis challenges an order from the Special MP/MLA Court in Pune rejecting his plea to intervene in the defamation proceedings against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Satyaki Savarkar, Savarkar’s grand-nephew, initiated the defamation case. It concerns remarks made by Mr. Gandhi about the right-wing ideologue. The Special Court, led by Judge Amol Shinde, dismissed Mr. Phadnis’s intervention request. The court imposed a cost of ₹20,000 on him, stating that the application wasted judicial time. In his interim application before the High Court, Mr. Phadnis requests a stay on the defamation proceedings. He also seeks the appointment of an Amicus Curiae. The Amicus would examine whether the evidence being recorded by the special court is relevant to the original complaint. The application accuses the Special Court of judicial indiscipline. It states that the …