Hearing in the defamation case against Rahul Gandhi postponed to October 1

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The hearing of a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, in an MP (Member of Parliament)-MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) court in Uttar Pradesh was postponed on Saturday owing to a health camp organised by the Bar Council. The case will now be heard on 1 October, news agency PTI reported.

According to plaintiff Vijay Mishra's lawyer, Santosh Kumar Pandey, his client's statement was scheduled to be recorded on Saturday. However, owing to a health camp held by the Bar Association at the civil court premises, the lawyers were occupied, and no court proceedings could take place, PTI stated. "The court has adjourned the matter to 1 October," Pandey said.

The case relates to allegations that Gandhi made objectionable remarks about Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the then the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president, during the 2018 Karnataka elections. Mishra, a local BJP politician, lodged the complaint in August 2018, and the case has been ongoing in court since then.

Gandhi surrendered before the court during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' on February 20 and was granted bail on personal surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each.

Subsequently, the court issued several notices asking him to appear to record his statement, but Gandhi was unable to do so owing to the Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress leader appeared before the MP-MLA court on July 26 and recorded his statement, asserting that the case was filed for "cheap publicity." His lawyer, Kashi Prasad Shukla, told reporters that Gandhi informed Special Judge Shubham Verma that he had never made any statements that would warrant a defamation case.

Hearing against Rahul Gandhi deferred on August 23, September 5

Further proceedings were initially scheduled for August 12 but were postponed as the judge was on leave. On the subsequent dates of August 23 and September 5, the hearings were deferred further owing to the plaintiff's ill health.

Earlier, the Bombay High Court had quashed a magistrate's order permitting Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Rajesh Kunte to submit fresh and additional documents in a pending criminal defamation complaint against Gandhi, PTI reported in July.

Kunte had lodged a defamation complaint in 2014 before the Bhiwandi magistrate's court in Thane district, claiming that the Congress leader had made false and defamatory statements during a speech that the right-wing outfit was responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

In 2023, the magistrate court in Bhiwandi permitted Kunte to submit the transcript of Gandhi's speech, which was part of a petition the Congress leader had filed in 2014 seeking the quashing of summons issued to him.

As per a PTI report, Kunte contended that by including the transcript as part of his petition, Gandhi had "unambiguously owned up to the speech and its contents".

Rahul Gandhi had challenged the magistrate's order before the high court.

On Friday, a single bench of Justice Prithviraj Chavan allowed Rahul Gandhi's petition.