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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Agencies

Rahul Gandhi granted bail in 2018 defamation case

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was granted bail on February 20, by a special court in Sultanpur in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader for his remarks against Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018.

The case was filed by Vijay Mishra on August 4, 2018 against Mr. Gandhi for allegedly making objectionable comments against Mr. Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru on May 8 that year during Karnataka elections.

The complainant referred to Mr. 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. Mr. Shah was the BJP president when Mr. Gandhi made the remark.

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

Mr. Gandhi could not attend the last hearing in the special MP-MLA court on January 18 due as he was busy with his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. The Yatra entered its 38th day on Tuesday. The yatra will start from Fursantganj in Amethi district and will move towards Raebareli and Lucknow today.

"The BJP is the biggest party of the country. Calling its [then] president a murderer is unjustifiable," Mr. Mishra told reporters on Tuesday.

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