LUCKNOW: A special MP/MLA court in Sultanpur on Monday acquitted Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a 2018 criminal defamation case over his alleged objectionable remarks against Amit Shah, who was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president at the time.Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and MP from Raebareli, appeared before the court in person for the pronouncement of the verdict.The case relates to alleged objectionable remarks made by Gandhi against Shah during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election campaign.The remarks were allegedly made at a rally in Bengaluru.BJP member Vijay Mishra, a former chairman of the District Cooperative Bank in Sultanpur, filed the defamation complaint against Gandhi on August 4, 2018.The court summoned Gandhi to face trial in November 2023.The Congress leader subsequently appeared before the court and secured bail in February 2024.“Rahul Gandhi has been acquitted in this case. The court determined that the complainant, Vijay Mishra did not qualify as an aggrieved person. Since we have not yet been able to review the full text of the judgment, we are currently expressing our happiness over the fact that Rahul Gandhi has been acquitted. As for the specific reasoning or the grounds upon which the case was dismissed, we cannot provide full details until we have the complete judgment,” said Kashi Prasad Shukla, the advocate representing Rahul Gandhi.
