Uttar Pradesh: Rahul Gandhi granted bail in 2018 defamation case

Rahul Gandhi. File Pic/PTI

A special court on Tuesday gave Congress leader Rahul Gandhi bail in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader. The case against Gandhi was registered for his remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018.

Rahul Gandhi was granted bail after filling bail bonds. The former Congress president could not attend the last hearing in the special MP-MLA court on January 18 due to his on-going Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, appeared in court on Tuesday, reported news wire PTI.

"This morning Rahul Gandhi will be at the District Civil Court in Sultanpur that had issued a summons to him 36 hours earlier to appear before it on a defamation case filed by a BJP leader in August 2018. Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will not be derailed. Rahul Gandhi will not be silenced. The Indian National Congress will not be intimidated," he said in a post on 'X'.

BJP leader Vijay Mishra had filed a defamation case on August 4, 2018 against Gandhi's alleged objectionable comments on Union Minister Amit Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru on May 8, 2018 during the Karnataka elections.

As per PTI report, 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. Amit Shah was the BJP president when Gandhi made the comment.

A special CBI court in Mumbai had discharged Amit Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case. Shah when was a minister of state for home in Gujarat. However, Gandhi's alleged comments on Amit Shah mentioning 'accused' in connection to the said case, came couple of years after the court had acquited the charges against Shah.

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

(With PTI inputs)