SULTANPUR: A special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, will pronounce its verdict on Monday in a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over alleged objectionable remarks against then BJP president Amit Shah in 2018.
Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and MP from Raebareli, has been directed to appear before the court in person on October 26, according to the complainant’s counsel, Santosh Kumar Pandey.
Additional Civil Judge Shubham Verma had initially fixed October 13 for the verdict, but the court is now scheduled to deliver its decision on Monday.
Sultanpur Superintendent of Police Vineet Jaiswal said Gandhi was expected to travel by road from Lucknow and reach the district by 10 am. Adequate police personnel will be deployed around the court premises, he said.
The case relates to remarks Gandhi allegedly made about Shah during an election campaign in Bengaluru ahead of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections.
BJP leader Vijay Mishra, a former chairman of the Sultanpur District Cooperative Bank, filed the defamation complaint on August 4, 2018. The court summoned Gandhi to face trial in November 2023, after which he appeared and secured bail.
Mishra later sought to have Gandhi’s voice sample compared with the recording of the speech. The trial court rejected the application, and the sessions court dismissed his challenge to that decision. The Allahabad High Court subsequently rejected Mishra’s petition challenging the lower courts’ orders.
The court’s decision on Monday will determine the next stage of the proceedings in the long-running case.