Rahul Gandhi Acquitted in 2018 Amit Shah Defamation Case by Sultanpur Court

A special MP/MLA court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Monday acquitted Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case that had followed him for eight years, over remarks he made about Amit Shah in the run-up to the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma pronounced the verdict with the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition present in the courtroom. The judgment had originally been listed for October 13 before being pushed to October 26.

What the case was about

The complaint was filed in August 2018 by Vijay Mishra, a BJP leader who was then the party's district vice-president in Sultanpur. It centred on comments Gandhi made in Bengaluru during the Karnataka campaign, when Shah was the BJP's national president.

According to the complaint, Gandhi told his audience that people in India forget that the BJP president was a "murder accused", and contrasted that with the party's claims of honesty and decency. The reference was widely understood to point to Shah's past naming in the 2005 Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, from which Shah was discharged by a special CBI court in 2014.

Mishra sought prosecution under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which define and punish criminal defamation. Gandhi contested the charge throughout, arguing that his words had been taken out of context. The complainant maintained that the statement was defamatory on its face.

Mishra had said in earlier interviews that he pursued the complaint because, as a long-time party worker, he was personally hurt by the allegation against the party's then president.

Why the verdict matters

For Gandhi, the ruling removes one of several defamation cases that BJP leaders and supporters have filed against him in different states over campaign speeches. The most consequential of those, over his 2019 "Modi surname" remark, led to his conviction and brief disqualification from the Lok Sabha in 2023 before the Supreme Court stayed the conviction. That history is why every defamation verdict involving him draws close political attention: a conviction with a sentence of two years or more can cost a sitting MP his seat.

Monday's acquittal goes the other way, and it arrives at a useful moment for the Congress. The party is in the middle of a sharp exchange with the BJP over Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks at a rally in Patna, and is preparing for a rally in Delhi next week. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Aradhana Mishra had said before the hearing that the party had full faith in the judiciary, and Congress workers turned out to greet Gandhi when he landed in Lucknow on his way to Sultanpur.

What comes next

The complainant can still challenge the acquittal before a higher court in Uttar Pradesh, and whether Mishra chooses to do so will decide if the case is truly over.

The ruling also does not touch the other defamation proceedings against Gandhi pending elsewhere in the country, each of which runs on its own track. For now, though, the Sultanpur case, which at one point required Gandhi to seek bail and make repeated court appearances, is closed at the trial stage.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.