Hearing in defamation case against Rahul postponed

Sultanpur: Hearing in a defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a MP-MLA court in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district was postponed on Tuesday as the lawyer of the plaintiff was unwell.

The matter will now be heard on October 9. Gandhi’s lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla said the hearing was postponed as Santosh Kumar Pandey, the lawyer of the plaintiff and local BJP leader Vijay Mishra, was unwell.

On September 21 too, the hearing was postponed due to a health camp organised by the bar council. Gandhi has been accused of making objectionable comments during the 2018 Karnataka polls about Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was BJP president then.

Mishra filed a complaint against Gandhi in August 2018.

Since then, the matter has been going on in the court. 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 to the Congress leader to record his statement, but he was unable to appear before it due to the Lok Sabha polls. Gandhi finally appeared before the MP-MLA court on July 26, got his statement recorded and said the case was filed to gain “cheap publicity”.