Relief for Rahul Gandhi: UP court acquits Congress leader in 2018 defamation case

Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh): A special MP/MLA court at Sultanpur in Uttar Pradesh on Monday (October 26) acquitted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation suit filed against him over alleged objectionable statements about Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018.

The leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha travelled from Delhi to Sultanpur this morning to hear the court's verdict.

The complaint was filed by Vijay Mishra, the BJP's then district vice-president, over remarks Gandhi allegedly made at a press conference in Bengaluru in May 2018. At the time, Shah was the BJP's national president.

The complainant alleged that Gandhi had called Shah an accused in a murder case and made derogatory statements about him. Mishra, who was also the chairman of the local District Co-operative Bank, filed a formal complaint over the statement.

Advocate Kashi Prasad Shukla, who represented the complainant, said that the case dated back to May 2018, when Gandhi allegedly made the remarks during a press conference in Bengaluru.

The MP/MLA court had summoned the Congress leader in connection with the complaint on December 16, 2023. The proceedings went on for several years before the court delivered its decision on Monday.

Speaking to ANI earlier on Monday, Mishra said that he was hopeful of receiving justice and expected the verdict to favour him.

"We are hopeful that we will receive justice, given the way they behaved toward our BJP’s national president at that time (Amit Shah). This legal case has been ongoing since 2018, spanning all the way to 2026. Today is the date for the verdict, and given how the case has been contested by our legal counsel, we are optimistic that the judgment will be in our favour," he had said.

Before the verdict, advocate Pandey had said that a conviction under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) could carry a prison term of up to two years and a fine.

Section 500 of the IPC prescribes the punishment for defamation. Section 437A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) requires an accused to furnish bail bonds and sureties to ensure their appearance before a higher court if an appeal is filed against the trial court's decision.