UP: MP-MLA court to pronounce verdict in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi on Monday

A special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur will pronounce its verdict on Monday in a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remarks against then-BJP president Amit Shah in 2018.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Raebareli MP, is required to appear before the court in person on Monday, the complainant's counsel Santosh Kumar Pandey said.

Additional Civil Judge Shubham Verma had earlier fixed October 13 as the date for pronouncing the verdict.

Sultanpur SP Vineet Jaiswal said that according to the scheduled itinerary, Gandhi is expected to travel from Lucknow to Sultanpur by road and reach by 10 am.

Adequate police personnel will be deployed on the court premises as a security measure, the SP said.

District Congress president Abhishek Singh Rana also confirmed Gandhi's visit to Sultanpur, and said the senior leader is expected by 10 am.

The case relates to alleged objectionable remarks made by Gandhi against Shah at a rally in Bengaluru ahead of the Karnataka elections in 2018.

BJP leader Vijay Mishra, a former chairman of the District Cooperative Bank in Sultanpur, filed the defamation case against Gandhi on August 4, 2018.

In 2023, the Congress leader appeared before the court and secured bail.

Mishra later sought a comparison of Gandhi's voice sample with that of the Bengaluru rally, a plea that the trial court rejected, while the sessions court dismissed his revision petition against the order.

The Allahabad High Court later dismissed Mishra’s petition challenging the decisions of the two courts.