Maneka Gandhi (also spelled Menaka; née Anand) (born 26 August 1956) is an Indian politician, animal rights activist, and environmentalist.

[5] Maneka first met Sanjay Gandhi in 1973 at a cocktail party hosted by her uncle, Major-General Kapur, to celebrate his son's upcoming wedding.

[7][8][9] Maneka Gandhi founded the news magazine Surya, which later played a key role in promoting the Congress party after its defeat in the 1977 election following the Emergency.

[10] The court found that "Democracy is based essentially on free debate and open discussion, for that is the only corrective of government action in a democratic setup."

[11] Maneka's relationship with Indira Gandhi deteriorated following Sanjay's death, with frequent arguments leading to an eventual rift.

[14] Her personal secretary was Vijay Samnotra, an Indian Civil Servant and former head of the United Nations Environment Programme.

She currently chairs the Jury of the International Energy Globe Foundation, which meets annually in Austria to award the year’s best environmental innovations.

She also hosted the weekly television program Heads and Tails, which highlighted the suffering of animals due to commercial exploitation, and later authored a book with the same title.

Despite the veterinarian’s efforts to explain that he had exercised due care and that the dog, being aggressive, had torn off its own bandages and reopened its wounds post-surgery, Gandhi reportedly used abusive and unparliamentary language.

The recorded call was later shared widely on social media, leading veterinary associations to condemn and protest her behavior.

[25] In January 2021, activist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj shared an audio recording in which Gandhi allegedly berated a man for hitting a dog and threatened to file a sexual harassment complaint against him.

[29][30] In June 2020, Kerala police filed a case against Gandhi following complaints that her statements regarding the death of a pregnant elephant promoted communal hatred.

For instance, they throw poison on roads so that 300–400 birds & dogs die at one time.” Gandhi was accused of communalizing the incident, which would otherwise have been under the jurisdiction of the Department of Forests.