Pune, June 17 -- Satyaki Savarkar, the grandnephew of Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, has told a Pune court that though his grand uncle VD Savarkar had filed 10 clemency petitions before the British government, their tone was not one of "humility" and they did not include words expressing loyalty to the British government. Instead, they merely sought a reduction in sentence, Satyaki Savarkar told the court, as per his deposition statement made available on Tuesday. The admissions were made on Monday during Satyaki Savarkar's cross-examination by advocate Milind Pawar, counsel for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a criminal defamation case against Gandhi over his remarks in London in March 2023. According to Satyaki Savarkar's complaint, filed after Gandhi's London speech, the Congress leader defamed VD Savarkar by falsely attributing to his writings an incident of assaulting a Muslim youth, which he said did not exist. Gandhi denied the claim and said his remarks were based on historical material. Proceedings in the case are ongoing before the special MP/MLA court in Pune. During cross-examination, Satyaki Savarkar agreed that "Savarkar had filed a clemency petition ten times" and that records of those petitions are available with the government. He also agreed that "filing a mercy petition is an official procedure intended to seek a reduction in the sentence, and Savarkar availed himself of this very process." He further stated that there was "no obligation on any prisoner to file a mercy petition" and that the decision "depended on the concerned prisoner's preference." The British administration had the authority to reduce or alter sentences based on such clemency petitions and records of the 10 petitions filed by the Hindutva ideologue exist with the government, Savarkar said. There was no study or report comparing VD Savarkar's mercy petitions with those of other prisoners which could establish that the language the Hindutva ideologue used was merely formal or strategic. It was also unclear if VD Savarkar had signed each of the 10 petitions with the phrase, "I beg to remain, Sir, your most obedient servant", as was the norm in such cases, Satyaki Savarkar said. He also referred to Reginald Craddock, then home member of the government of India, who had described the language used in Savarkar's mercy petition as "deceptive"....