Published Oct 26, 2026 | 12:04 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 26, 2026 | 12:04 PM
Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.
The Uttar Pradesh Court on Monday, 26 October, acquitted the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in a 2018 defamation case over remarks against Home Minister Amit Shah.
According to Bar and Bench, the Court in Sultanpur said that the remarks made by Rahul Gandhi were not defamatory in nature.
Rahul Gandhi was present before the court as the verdict was given by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma.
The Bar and Bench further reported that the criminal defamation case under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Vinay Mishra in 2018. According to the complainant, Gandhi, in a statement made during the then Karnataka elections, had referred to Shah as a murder accused. Gandhi had made the following statement in Bengaluru about Amit Shah, who was then the BJP president:
“People in India forget that the president of BJP is a murder accused. That’s the truth. The party that talks about honesty, decency, has a person who has been accused of murder as president.”
Gandhi was referring to the Sohrabuddin encounter case, in which Shah was discharged by a special CBI court in 2014.
According to the news agency PTI, Rahul Gandhi arrived at Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport Monday morning. Hundreds of Congress workers and local party leaders gathered at the airport to welcome the Raebareli MP.
It was also reported that the convoy of the LoP was also involved in a minor collision on the Purvanchal Expressway, however, the Congress leader was safe and no one was seriously injured.
VIDEO | Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s convoy involved in a minor collision on the Purvanchal Expressway; the Congress leader is safe and no one was seriously injured.
(Source: Third Party)
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/bIyFWTfmBd)
#RahulGandhi
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) October 26, 2026
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court, temporarily stayed the trial proceedings against Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case against him before a Maharashtra court over his remarks about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The case arose from Gandhi’s 2018 remarks where he used terms like “commander-in-thief” and “Choron Ke Sardar” while criticising the prime minister regarding the Rafale fighter jet deal.
According to Livelaw, a bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh issued notice returnable in 4 weeks on Gandhi’s plea against the Bombay High Court’s September 8 order refusing to quash the criminal defamation case.
“Issue notice returnable in 4 weeks. In the meantime, further proceedings before the trial court shall remain stayed”, the Court ordered.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
