The Supreme Court on Monday rebuked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his remarks about alleged Chinese incursions into Indian territory, saying that a “true Indian” would not make such statements, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and AG Masih made the comments in the context of his petition seeking that defamation proceedings against him be quashed. The court on Monday went on to stay the proceedings for three weeks.

The case pertains to comments made by Gandhi on December 16, 2022, about a clash between the Indian and Chinese armies along the Line of Actual Control in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang.

The bench asked the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha how he had verified claims that 2,000 sq km of Indian territory had been occupied.

“Were you there?” Datta asked, according to Live Law. “Do you have any credible material? Why do you make these statements without any...If you were a true Indian, you would not say all this.”

In response, Gandhi’s counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that it was also possible for a “true Indian” to say that 20 Indian soldiers were beaten up and killed, and that this was a matter of concern. He was referring to clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in June 2020 in the Galwan Valley along the Line of Actual Control.

Datta, however, asked why Gandhi made such allegations on social media, instead of raising questions in Parliament, The Hindu reported.

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notices to the complainant and Uttar Pradesh, which is a party to the case and where the defamation case against Gandhi was filed. The court sought responses within three weeks, while temporarily halting further legal action until then.

The two sides had confronted each other with melee weapons on December 9, 2022, leading to injuries on both sides.

Gandhi’s remarks about the violence were made during the Congress’ Bharat Jodo Yatra, a march from Kanyakumari to Kashmir against the allegedly divisive policies of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

A former director of the Border Roads Organisation, Uday Shankar Srivastava, filed a defamation complaint against Gandhi. His lawyer claimed that the Congress leader’s statements were derogatory and defamed the Indian Army.

Gandhi approached the Supreme Court in the matter after the Allahabad High Court refused to quash the proceedings in May.