The Hindu : Kerala News : Petition against use of Gandhi surname dismissed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 20, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Petition against use of Gandhi surname dismissed

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, AUG. 19 . A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court today dismissed with cost a writ petition seeking a directive to the Election Commission to pass orders on a pending complaint against the use of the surname `Gandhi' by the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Maneka Gandhi.

Fine imposed

The Bench comprising the Chief Justice, N.K. Sodhi, and Justice P.R. Raman also imposed a cost of Rs. 5,000 on the petition for filing the public interest litigation with a view to "gain cheap publicity". The court asked the petitioner, C.S. Manoj of Kochi, to deposit the amount with the Kerala Legal Services Authority within two weeks. According to the complaint pending before the Election Commission, the Congress President and her son had been using the surname `Gandhi', instead of the community name — `Gandy' — to which the husband of Sonia Gandhi and father of Rahul Gandhi belonged. He said that father of Rajiv Gandhi, Feroz Gandhi belonged to a community among the Parsis, which is commonly known as `Gandy'. Ms. Maneka Gandhi who was Sikh could not use the surname, Gandhi. The petition alleged that these leaders were trying to hoodwink the public by using `Gandhi' as their surname.

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