UP: Hearing in 2018 defamation case against Rahul Gandhi postponed to April 22

The hearing in a special court on the 2018 defamation case against Rahul Gandhi was postponed to April 22 as the judge was on leave. The defamation complaint was filed in 2018 by the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vijay Mishra against Rahul Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remarks against Home Minister Amit Shah.

Mishra's advocate, Santosh Pandey, said he gave an application to the court, seeking the issuance of a non-bailable warrant against Gandhi. But since the judge was on leave, the hearing could not take place and the matter was posted for April 22.

The complaint was filed here on August 4, 2018, against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged objectionable comments against Shah that were made at a press conference in Bengaluru in May during the Karnataka elections.

The complainant referred to Gandhi's comment that the BJP claims to believe in honest and clean politics but has a party president who is an "accused" in a murder case. Shah was the BJP president when Gandhi commented.

About four years before Gandhi's remark, a special CBI court in Mumbai discharged Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case when he was a minister of state for home in Gujarat.

In December last year, the court issued a warrant against Rahul Gandhi. Subsequently, Gandhi halted his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi on February 20, appeared in the court and was granted bail.