Big Relief for Rahul Gandhi Sultanpur Court Acquits Him in 2018 Defamation Case Over Amit Shah Remark

Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi got a big relief on Monday. The Special MP/MLA Court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh acquitted him in the 8 year old defamation case linked to his remarks against Amit Shah. The verdict was pronounced by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma while Gandhi was present in the court.

The case dates back to May 2018. During the Karnataka Assembly election campaign, at a press conference in Bengaluru, Rahul Gandhi had said that BJP talks about honest politics but its president is a murder accused. At that time, Amit Shah was the BJP national president. The remark was in reference to the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, in which Shah had already been discharged by a special CBI court in 2014.

Following the remark, BJP leader Vijay Mishra filed a criminal defamation complaint on 4 August 2018 under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC. Mishra is a former chairman of the Sultanpur District Cooperative Bank and former vice-president of BJP's Sultanpur unit. He had claimed that the statement hurt the sentiments of party workers.

During the hearing, the court considered three questions. First, whether the CD submitted as evidence was genuine. Second, whether the complainant is an aggrieved person. Third, whether the statement is defamatory. The court held that the CD was genuine, but did not accept that Vijay Mishra is an aggrieved person, nor did it find the statement defamatory. On this basis, Rahul Gandhi was acquitted.

Outside the court, Rahul Gandhi's lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla said, "The court has acquitted Rahul Gandhi." On the other hand, complainant's lawyer Santosh Pandey said they will decide on filing a revision after studying the full judgment.

Gandhi was summoned in the case on 27 November 2023 and was granted bail on 20 February 2024.

On his way to Sultanpur today, there was a minor accident involving his convoy on the Purvanchal Expressway. According to police, an ambulance applied sudden brakes and 2-3 vehicles collided. No one was injured and Rahul Gandhi is completely safe.