The hearing in a defamation case filed against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi over alleged objectionable remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah was adjourned on Monday.
The case was scheduled to be heard in an MP-MLA special court. The hearing was deferred after Santosh Pandey, counsel for the complainant and BJP leader Vijay Mishra, sought time. Magistrate Shubham Verma has fixed April 17, 2026, as the next date of hearing.
The case pertains to allegations that Rahul Gandhi made objectionable remarks about Amit Shah in Bengaluru in 2018, when Shah was the national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is now the Union Home Minister. It is alleged that Rahul Gandhi referred to Amit Shah as a “murderer.” Following this, BJP leader and former chairman of a district cooperative bank, Vijay Mishra, filed a defamation complaint on August 4, 2018.
In the case, the complainant had also filed an application seeking to match Rahul Gandhi’s voice sample with a forensic science laboratory. Rahul Gandhi’s counsel, Kashi Prasad Shukla, has objected to this application.
The court had summoned Rahul Gandhi for trial on November 27, 2023. He appeared before the court and secured bail on February 20, 2024. His statement was recorded in court on February 20, 2026. The matter now stands adjourned to April 17, 2026, for the next hearing.
