VARANASI, May 28 -- A court in Varanasi on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to summon leader of the opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and take strict action against him for allegedly calling Lord Ram a mythological character during his address at Brown University in the United States in April this year.

The petition was filed on May 12 by advocate Harishankar Pandey in the MP/MLA court of additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) Niraj Kumar Tripathi. Pandey alleged that during his April 21 speech at Brown University, Rahul Gandhi referred to Lord Ram as a fictional and mythological figure, which, he claimed, hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus who follow Sanatan Dharma.

Terming the remark as hate speech, Pandey sought action under se...