Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi is expected to appear before the Special MP/MLA Court in Sultanpur on Monday, October 26, when the court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict in a defamation case against him dating back to 2018, news agency ANI reported on Sunday.
Source: ANI via LatestLY
The complaint was filed on August 4, 2018, by BJP leader Vijay Mishra, a former chairman of the district cooperative bank, over Gandhi's alleged objectionable remarks about then BJP president Amit Shah — now the Union Home Minister — at a press conference in Bengaluru during the Karnataka election campaign, PTI reported. The allegations in the complaint are contested and the court has not yet delivered its verdict.
Source: PTI via Swadesi News
The MP/MLA court fixed October 26 for the verdict on October 13 after the hearing in the case concluded, according to PTI. Additional Civil Judge Shubham Verma of the Special MP-MLA Court set the date, and the complainant's counsel Santosh Kumar Pandey said Gandhi would be required to appear on the day of the pronouncement.
The court had summoned Gandhi to face trial on November 27, 2023; he subsequently appeared before the court and secured bail. Mishra later applied for a comparison of Gandhi's voice sample, which the trial court rejected — a revision petition in the sessions court and a petition in the Allahabad High Court against those orders were also dismissed, PTI reported.
Speaking to ANI, complainant Vijay Mishra recalled filing the complaint in 2018, while his lawyer Santosh Kumar Pandey said Gandhi could face a maximum punishment of two years if sufficient evidence is found against him — that is the complainant side's statement of the legal position, not a court finding. A verdict date being fixed does not mean Gandhi has been found guilty; the judgment itself will be known only on Monday.