A special court in Uttar Pradesh postponed hearing in a 2018 defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remark targeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah to May 14 as no judge was assigned to the MP-MLA court.
Rahul Gandhi’s counsel Kashi Prasad Shukla said that the hearing was scheduled for Thursday but could not be held as a judge was yet to be assigned to the court. Subsequently, the MP-MLA court scheduled May 14 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
Notably, the defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra six years ago. In December 2023, the court issued a warrant against Rahul Gandhi. Owing to this, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi halted his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi on February 20. He appeared in court and was granted bail.
Appearing for Vijay Mishra, Advocate Santosh Pandey had said that Rahul Gandhi surrendered in the court and that the court took him into custody for 30-45 minutes. Following, his bail application was submitted and was accepted by the court. Advocate Santosh Pandey further asserted that Rahu Gandhi’s counsel said that the Congress leader is innocent and he has not made any defamatory statement.
Pertinently, the complaint was lodged on August 4, 2018, against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his alleged objectionable comments against Home Minister Amit Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru in May 2018 during the Karnataka elections.
The complainant referred to Rahul Gandhi’s comment that the BJP claims to believe in honest and clean politics but has a party president who is an accused in a murder case. Amit Shah was BJP president when Rahul Gandhi made the comment.
Nearly four years before Rahul Gandhi’s remark, a special CBI court in Mumbai discharged Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case when he was a minister of state for home in Gujarat.