Rahul Gandhi acquitted in 2018 defamation case over remarks on Amit Shah

Sultanpur: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been acquitted by a special MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur in a defamation case linked to remarks he made against Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 2018 Karnataka election campaign.

Gandhi was present in the courtroom when the judge announced the verdict on Monday. The court found that his statements did not amount to defamation.

The complaint was filed by Vijay Mishra, a local BJP leader and former chairman of the Sultanpur District Cooperative Bank. It concerned Gandhi’s remarks at a rally in Bengaluru ahead of the Karnataka Assembly polls, in which he allegedly said the BJP projected itself as a party committed to honest politics while its then president was an accused in a murder case.

Mishra had argued that the statement was derogatory towards Shah, who was the BJP president at the time.

Gandhi reached Sultanpur from Lucknow to attend the final hearing. Soon after the acquittal, Congress workers and supporters gathered outside the court and celebrated with drums and slogans.

Congress MLC Deepak Singh welcomed the order, saying the party accepted the court’s decision and that the truth had prevailed. He added that Gandhi had faced considerable hardship during the prolonged legal proceedings.

The case had been pending since 2018. Gandhi appeared before the special court in February 2024 and was granted bail on personal bonds.

Earlier this year, he recorded his statement before the Sultanpur District Court amid tight security. He had skipped a hearing fixed for January 19, after which the court scheduled the next hearing for February 20.

With arguments from both sides complete, the court delivered its verdict on Monday, acquitting Gandhi of the defamation charge.

Before the order was pronounced, Mishra’s lawyer Santosh Kumar Pandey had said that a conviction could attract up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.

(Inputs from IANS)