UP court acquits Rahul Gandhi in defamation case over Amit Shah remarks

A court in Sultanpur district on Monday acquitted Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case filed against him in connection with his 2018 remark on Union Home Minister Amit Shah, then President of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Gandhi was in court when Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma delivered the verdict. The court had said that remarks made by Gandhi were not defamatory, the media reported.

The case was registered in August 2018 by local BJP leader Vijay Mishra on remarks made by Gandhi during the Karnataka Assembly election campaign in Bengaluru. While campaigning, he called Shah a murder accused as he hit out at the claims of clean politics of the BJP.

He alleged the statement defamed Shah. He denied the accusations, stating that his words were misrepresented. The case was heard in the context of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code on Criminal Defamation.

In 2023, Gandhi went to court and received bail in February 2024. The case was being heard for a number of years before the court gave its ruling on Monday.

The acquittal ends this case at the trial court, but any further appeal will lie with the complainant.