Sultanpur, 11 February: Hearing was held on Tuesday in the defamation case of Leader of Opposition (LoP) and Rae Bareli MP Rahul Gandhi. The cross-examination of the defense with the complainant in the case was completed. In the court of MP-MLA Magistrate, the defense has completed the cross-examination of complainant Vijay Mishra. The court has fixed the date of February 24 for hearing the remaining evidence.
Hanumanganj resident of Kotwali Dehat and BJP leader Vijay Mishra had filed a defamation complaint against Rahul Gandhi in the MP MLA Court in the year 2018.
He had alleged that during the Karnataka elections in 2018, Rahul Gandhi had made indecent remarks, I am hurt by this. A five-year long process went on in the court, when Rahul Gandhi did not appear, in December 2023, the then judge issued a warrant and summoned him. Then in February 2024, Rahul Gandhi surrendered in the court.
The special magistrate granted him bail on two sureties of Rs 25 each. After this, Rahul Gandhi was called by the court to record his statement. After a dozen dates, Rahul reached the court on 26 July and recorded his statement. He called himself innocent and said that a political conspiracy was being hatched against him. After this, the plaintiff was directed to present evidence in the court. The hearing in the case was to be held on December 16 last year, but the hearing was postponed due to the special judge being on leave.
On the other hand, when the cross-examination was not completed on 2 January, the court fixed the dates of 10 January and 22 January, but the hearing was again postponed due to the strike of lawyers on both these dates. Court magistrate Shubham Verma gave the last chance and fixed the next date for hearing as February 11, 2025.
