Sultanpur Court Acquits Rahul Gandhi in 2018 Defamation Case

A special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, acquitted Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Monday in a criminal defamation case. The case originated from a 2018 press conference in Bengaluru during the Karnataka Assembly elections, where Gandhi referred to Union Home Minister Amit Shah as a "murder accused" in reference to the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

Special Judge Shubham Verma ruled that the remarks were not defamatory and described the complaint as "concocted, unnatural, uncorroborated and motivated for political purpose." The court determined that the complainant, BJP leader Vijay Mishra, was not the aggrieved party because the statements targeted Shah and the BJP rather than Mishra personally.

Following the verdict, Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mona Mishra characterized the legal action as a BJP conspiracy. Conversely, BJP state spokesperson Dinesh Pratap Singh argued that it has become a trend for Congress to use unparliamentary language against BJP leaders.