A special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, on Monday acquitted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case dating back to 2018, ruling that his remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah were not defamatory and that the man who filed the complaint was not an aggrieved person in the case.
Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and MP from Raebareli, was present in court when Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma pronounced the verdict. He left the court soon after the judgment, as Congress workers outside celebrated by beating drums and distributing sweets.
What happened
The court on Monday, October 26, 2026, acquitted Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case filed against him in 2018 over remarks he made about Amit Shah during the Karnataka Assembly election campaign.
Gandhi’s lawyer, Kashi Prasad Shukla, confirmed the acquittal after the verdict. The court had earlier fixed October 13 for pronouncing its judgment, but the date was later rescheduled to October 26.
Security had been tightened in Sultanpur, particularly around the court complex, ahead of the proceedings.
The 2018 remarks and the complaint
The case was filed on August 4, 2018, by Vijay Mishra, a local BJP leader and former vice-president of the party’s Sultanpur unit, who had also served as chairman of the District Cooperative Bank in Sultanpur.
According to the complaint, Gandhi, speaking at a rally in Bengaluru during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election campaign, referred to Shah — who was then the BJP’s national president — as a murder accused. Gandhi said at the time: “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.
Gandhi appeared before the Sultanpur court in 2023 and secured bail. In February, he appeared again before the MP-MLA court and denied the allegations, with his counsel describing the complaint as politically motivated and baseless.
Senior Advocate RS Cheema, along with advocates Kashi Shukla, Tarannum Cheema, Prasanna S and Akash Singh, represented Gandhi in the case.
Why the court acquitted Gandhi
The court’s reasoning turned on three questions, as explained by Santosh Pandey, counsel for the complainant, after the verdict.
First, whether the CD containing the voice recording filed by the complainant was genuine. Second, whether the complainant was an aggrieved person. And third, whether the statement itself was defamatory.
The court found the CD to be genuine, but it did not find the complainant to be an aggrieved person, nor did it find the statement made against Amit Shah to be defamatory. The court said the remarks made by Gandhi were not defamatory in nature.
Pandey said the court examined three witnesses for the complainant, and no witness appeared from the opposite side. He added that he had yet to study the full judgment.
“The court has acquitted Rahul Gandhi in the case,” Gandhi’s lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla confirmed.
For the Congress, the verdict was immediate cause for celebration. “A defamation lawsuit related to a remark made in Bengaluru during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections. Judge Shubham Verma of the special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur dismissed the case, granting relief to Rahul Gandhi,” said Kunwar Singh Nishad, chairman of the media department of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.
A dramatic day in Sultanpur
The verdict came at the end of a dramatic day for the Congress leader. Earlier on Monday morning, Gandhi arrived at Lucknow’s Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, where hundreds of Congress workers and local party leaders gathered to welcome him. He did not speak to reporters before leaving for Sultanpur.
On the way, his convoy was involved in a collision on the Purvanchal Expressway. According to a police officer, the incident happened at around 10.15 am, when a private vehicle at the front of the convoy, belonging to local Congress leaders, suddenly applied its brakes for an unspecified reason, causing the vehicles behind it to collide with one another.
Gandhi was safe, the officer said, adding that the incident was not serious and no major injuries were reported.
The Uttar Pradesh Police has since constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the accident. The team will examine the circumstances and causes of the collision and determine whether there was any negligence or lapse in security, escort arrangements or traffic management. It has also been asked to suggest measures to prevent such incidents from recurring.
The SIT is headed by Inspector General of Police, Lucknow Range, Kiran S, and includes Additional Superintendent of Police, Sultanpur, Brij Narayan Singh, and Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic), Sultanpur, Ram Krishna Chaturvedi. It was constituted on the directions of Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police Rajeev Krishna and has been asked to submit a detailed report to police headquarters at the earliest.
What happens next
The complainant has not yet decided on his next step. Santosh Pandey said Mishra would study the judgment and consult counsel before deciding whether to file a revision in the case.
For now, the acquittal closes an eight-year-old case that has followed Gandhi through his years as Congress president, as a Lok Sabha MP, and now as Leader of the Opposition.
How this case differs from the 2023 conviction
The Sultanpur acquittal stands in contrast to another defamation case against Gandhi, in which a Gujarat court in 2023 convicted him and sentenced him to two years’ imprisonment for his remark that “all thieves have Modi surname”. That statement, linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi, was made at an election rally in Karnataka’s Kolar constituency in 2019.
Gandhi, who was then the MP from Wayanad, was disqualified from Parliament after that conviction. The Supreme Court later stayed the conviction, an interim order that enabled him to continue as a lawmaker.
The two cases are often mentioned together, but they involve different remarks, different complainants and different courts — and on Monday, they produced opposite outcomes.
Timeline
- May 2018: Rahul Gandhi makes the remarks about Amit Shah at a rally in Bengaluru during the Karnataka Assembly election campaign.
- August 4, 2018: BJP leader Vijay Mishra files the criminal defamation complaint in Sultanpur.
- 2014 (background): Amit Shah is discharged by a special CBI court in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.
- 2023: Gandhi appears before the Sultanpur court and secures bail.
- October 13, 2026: The court first fixes this date for pronouncing its verdict; the date is later rescheduled.
- October 26, 2026, morning: Gandhi arrives at Lucknow airport, is welcomed by Congress workers, and heads to Sultanpur; his convoy collides on the Purvanchal Expressway at around 10.15 am, with no major injuries reported.
- October 26, 2026: The special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur, presided over by Judge Shubham Verma, acquits Gandhi, ruling the remarks were not defamatory and the complainant was not an aggrieved person.
- October 26, 2026: Uttar Pradesh Police constitutes a SIT to probe the convoy collision.
FAQs
Why was Rahul Gandhi acquitted in the Sultanpur defamation case?
The court ruled that his 2018 remarks against Amit Shah were not defamatory in nature, and that the complainant, Vijay Mishra, was not an aggrieved person in the case, even though the voice-recording CD filed by the complainant was found to be genuine.
What did Rahul Gandhi say about Amit Shah in 2018?
At a rally in Bengaluru during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election campaign, Gandhi said: “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.” He was referring to the Sohrabuddin encounter case, in which Shah was discharged by a special CBI court in 2014.
Who filed the case against Rahul Gandhi?
Vijay Mishra, a local BJP leader in Sultanpur and former vice-president of the party’s Sultanpur unit, filed the criminal defamation complaint on August 4, 2018, under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
Which court delivered the verdict?
The special MP-MLA court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, presided over by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma.
Was Rahul Gandhi present in court for the verdict?
Yes. Gandhi was present before the court when the verdict was pronounced, and he left soon after the judgment.
What happened to Rahul Gandhi’s convoy on the way to Sultanpur?
Some vehicles in his convoy collided on the Purvanchal Expressway at around 10.15 am on October 26, after a private vehicle at the front braked suddenly. Gandhi was safe and no major injuries were reported. The Uttar Pradesh Police has set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the collision.
Can the verdict be challenged?
The complainant’s counsel has said Mishra will study the full judgment and consult counsel before deciding whether to file a revision in the case.
Related coverage
The verdict comes days after another Congress-BJP remarks row made headlines, when Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s “Modi ka baap bhi jayega” retort at a Patna event sparked a ruckus and a BJP backlash. You can also browse more stories in our World section.