More than the merits of the National Herald case, it is the sound and fury around it that would trouble the Grand Old Party.

Delhi High Court has ordered what the Congress feared most: personal appearance of Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi at a local trial court in Patiala House. The presence of the Congress president and her official deputy in court in an alleged case of cheating and criminal breach of trust makes for bad optics.

More than the merits of the case, it is the sound and fury around it that would trouble the Grand Old Party. In the age of 24x7 news television and a very active social media, popular perception is built around a case much before courts come to a conclusion based on facts. The negative perception would cause serious dent in the halo around the Gandhi family, perhaps the only thing left for it after a sharp decline in popularity.

It is for the first time that SPG protectees, two in this case, will face the ignominy of appearing in a lower court as respondents. Way back in 1997, when former Prime Minister PV Narshimha Rao was to face trial in a local CBI court at Tis Hazari court, the venue of the trial was shifted to Vigyan Bhawan on the plea of security considerations. The Delhi Police had then cited difficulties in securing the place around the lower court and suggested a shift in venue. It’s too early to speculate whether Delhi Police will oblige the Gandhi family, if Sonia and Rahul are finally made to appear before the trial court, though. Read the full text of judgement.

Indira Gandhi was briefly sent to jail during the Janata Government regime in 1977 in connection with a jeep scandal but didn’t face regular trial in lower court. In 1975, Allahabad High Court had convicted her for electoral fraud, declared her election as MP null and void and debarred her for contesting election for another six years, but again she did not have to undergo the trauma of appearances in lower courts. Her conviction by Allahabad High Court, as timing suggest, ultimately resulted in the imposition of Emergency in the country. The facts and circumstances of the Indira cases and the case against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi are different.

The timing of the High Court’s order could not be worse for the Congress. This comes at a time when the Congress is faced with a serious existential crisis — routed in last parliamentary polls and subsequent assembly elections – and Rahul Gandhi is desperately working to make his presence felt as a leader both within and outside the Congress. The Congress was mulling elevating him to the post of party president. The court proceedings may delay that long-awaited anointment.

The High Court verdict, ironically, came on a day Rahul led his party MPs to protest against a certain remark of Union Minister Gen (Retd) VK Singh in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in Parliament House premises. The matter is listed in the trial court for tomorrow morning. The Congress, meanwhile, has decided to file an appeal in Supreme Court against the lower court and High Court order.

What is the National Herald case?

The petitioner, in this case BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, has alleged that Sonia and Rahul broke the law to grab valuable properties in Delhi, including the office of National Herald, a newspaper that was set up in 1938 by Jawaharlal Nehru. Going by the current value of National Herald properties, some suggest that the scam could be to the tune of anywhere between Rs 1600 crore and Rs 5000 crore.

In 1938, during the course of the freedom struggle, Jawaharlal Nehru guided the setting up of a company called Associated Journals Limited (AJL). Funded by the Congress, AJL brought out three newspapers — National Herald, Navjeevan (Hindi) and Qaumi Awaz (Urdu). The newspapers officially shut down in April 2008.

Swamy alleged that Sonia and Rahul Gandhi committed fraud and land grab by acquiring a public limited company called Associated Journals Private Ltd through their owned private company, Young India limited. Through this they had got publication rights of National Herald and Quami Awaz newspapers, with real estate properties in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Though acquired places were intended only for publication of newspapers, they were being used for earning money through rentals to various companies, including to Passport office in New Delhi.

In March 2011, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi floated a firm called Young India Limited with Rs 5 lakh. Sonia held 38 percent stake in it, Rahul 38 percent and the remaining 24 percent was held by Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes. Young India proposed to buy the liabilities of AJL, which amounted to Rs 90.21 crore, for Rs 50 lakh to be taken out of the Congress coffers. The party also paid an additional Rs 1 crore for renovation of New Delhi’s Herald House. In November 2012, Swamy moved court for appropriate action.