Swami Avimukteshwaranand sues Govindananda Saraswati for calling him 'fake baba' supported by Congress

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday refused to grant interim relief to Jyotir Peeth Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati in his defamation suit filed against Swami Govindananda Saraswati for calling him a 'fake baba' who was supported by the Congress party..Justice Navin Chawla remarked,"These are in bad taste. I think he is just frustrated, but I don't think there is any defamation," the Court said. Addressing the counsel for Avimukteshwaranand, the judge said,"You are a saint. Why are you worried about this? Saints should not be worried about all of this. They can’t be defamed by any of this. Saints command respect through their own deeds.".The remarks came after Avimukteshwaranand's lawyer said that Govindananda called his client "farzi baba", "dhongi baba" and "chor baba"."He is saying I am kidnapping people, that I am a history sheeter. He is saying I stole ₹7,000 crore worth of gold and that I have illicit relationships with sadhvis...He says there are criminal cases against me. There was one case that Akhilesh Yadav government filed against me, but that was withdrawn by the Yogi Adityanath government," the counsel said.However, the Court said that it is not appropriate to pass an injunction at this stage.It issued notice to the defendants on the interim relief application and listed the case for further consideration on August 29..Avimukteshwaranand has sued Govindananda and a host of new platforms for defamation. As per news reports, Govindananda had held a press conference on July 21 leveling several allegations against Avimukteshwaranand. He accused Avimukteshwaranand of being a “fake baba” and that he was supported by the Congress party.He further alleged that a non-bailable warrant was issued against Avimukteshwaranand by a Varanasi court and he was declared an absconder."One fake baba called Mukteshwaranand is getting popular these days. PM Modi has touched his feet and a big businessman like Ambani welcomed him to his home. Some people on TV are giving him the tag of 'Shankaracharya'. I want to give this message to all the citizens of the country that Mukteshwaranand is fake number one, he is not even deserving of adding sadhu, sant or sanyasi to his name so forget about Shankaracharya," Govindananda reportedly said. .Avimukteshwaranand is referred to as the Shankaracharya (a title for heads of monasteries called mutts in the Advaita Vedanta tradition) of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand. His coronation has been stayed by the Supreme Court.He was in the news after he raised questions over the recent inauguration of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.