Rahul Gandhi gets bail in 2018 defamation case over remarks against Amit Shah

Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi during his 1st press conference in the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatara in Nagaland.January 16, 2024. Photo: Sanjay Ahlawat/ PTI

Uttar Pradesh: A special court in Sultanpur here on Tuesday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader for his remarks against Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018. Gandhi appeared for the hearing.

The case was filed by Vijay Mishra on August 4, 2018, against Gandhi for allegedly making objectionable comments against Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru on May 8 that year during the Karnataka elections.

The complainant referred to 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. Shah was the BJP president when Gandhi remarked.

About four years before Gandhi's remark, a special CBI court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case when he was a minister of state for home in Gujarat.

Gandhi could not attend the last hearing in the special MP-MLA court on January 18 as he was busy with his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

"The BJP is the biggest party in the country. Calling its (then) president a murderer is unjustifiable," Mishra told reporters on Tuesday. He said Gandhi had skipped several summonses.

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