Defamation case: Rahul Gandhi appears before Sultanpur court
Gandhi, who appeared before special judge Shubham Verma, said he never gave a statement against anyone that could lead to a case of defamation, his lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla was quoted as saying by PTI.
Congress leader and Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday appeared before the Sultanpur MP/MLA court to record his statement in a defamation case filed against him in 2018, said prosecution officials and lawyers aware of the development. They added Gandhi appeared before the court after it warned him with strict action on July 2 for missing 12 consecutive dates.
Local BJP leader and district co-operative chairman Vijay Mishra had filed the defamation case against Gandhi after the latter allegedly called Amit Shah, the then BJP national president and current home minister, a murder accused at a press conference in Bengaluru on May 8, 2018, just days before the assembly elections in Karnataka that year. The case was filed under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 (spreading rumours to malign a person’s image) and 500 (defamation).
Mishra’s counsel Santosh Pandey said the current Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha stated to the court that he was not guilty, and that it was a political conspiracy against him. He said Gandhi stated before the court that the case was an attempt to malign his and his party’s image. He said the court fixed the next date of hearing in the matter on August 12 for which he need not be present.
Gandhi, who appeared before special judge Shubham Verma, said he never gave a statement against anyone which could lead to a case of defamation, his lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla was quoted as saying by PTI.
Shukla said the Congress leader’s statement was recorded before the judge and that he stayed in the court room for around 15-20 minutes. He left for Lucknow after the hearing, Shukla said, adding Gandhi visited Sultanpur only to appear before the court despite multiple political engagements.
While on the way to Lucknow, Gandhi met a cobbler, Ram Chait, during a five-minute halt near Vidhayak Crossing at Kurebhar, nearly 13 kilometres away from the Sultanpur district headquarters. He also met some NEET aspirants, who requested Gandhi to demand cancellation of the exam so that it could be held again.