UP: Hearing in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi deferred to Feb 20

Sultanpur: An MP-MLA court here on Thursday deferred the hearing in a case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his alleged objectionable remarks against Union Minister Amit Shah has been deferred to February 20.

Prosecution lawyer Santosh Kumar Pandey said that Gandhi was to appear before the court Thursday but his advocate Kashi Prasad Shukla told the court that the former Congress chief is currently on the ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’.

Moreover, Gandhi received the court summons a day earlier due to which he could not appear on Thursday, the court was informed.

Advocate Shukla requested the court to give his client a date between February 15 and 25 to appear before it. Following this, the court fixed February 20 as the next hearing date in the case.

The defamation case was filed by local BJP leader Vijay Mishra against Rahul Gandhi on August 4, 2018, alleging that in a press conference held in Bengaluru on May 8 during the Karnataka assembly elections that year, the Congress leader had accused then BJP chief Amit Shah of murder.