Sultanpur Court seeks records in Rahul Gandhi defamation case

A Sultanpur district court has summoned records from a lower court while hearing a plea challenging the rejection of an application seeking Rahul Gandhi's voice sample in a 2018 defamation case. The matter will be heard next on June 5

Sultanpur (UP): The district court in UP’s Sultanpur on Saturday summoned case records from the lower court in connection with a 2018 alleged defamation case against the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi.

Special Judge MP-MLA Rakesh Kumar passed the order as he took up a plea by the complainant challenging the lower court’s rejection of his application seeking voice samples of Gandhi in the case.
The judge has summoned the case records from the lower court, Santosh Kumar Pandey, the counsel for the complainant, said, adding the next hearing is on June 5.

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The complainant had previously filed an application in the MP-MLA court, which is hearing the defamation case, requesting that a voice sample of Rahul Gandhi be collected and matched at a forensic science laboratory against the voice on the CD containing the alleged defamatory remarks. However, the MP-MLA court had dismissed this application. Challenging this order, Pandey had approached the district court, which took cognisance of the matter on Saturday.

The court has summoned the original records pertaining to the case from the lower court. June 5 has been fixed as the date for the next hearing and arguments in this matter, Pandey said. He said that the original defamation suit is still ongoing in the MP-MLA Court, where the next hearing is scheduled. June 17.

Rahul Gandhi’s counsel, Kashi Prasad Shukla, appeared before the judge and filed his ‘vakalatnama’ (power of attorney for legal representation). The court has accepted the counsel’s ‘vakalatnama’.
Shukla said, “Today, I appeared in court on behalf of Rahul Gandhi and filed my ‘vakalatnama’. Summoning the case records, the court has scheduled June 5 as the date for the hearing.” Meanwhile, the next hearing in the original defamation case before the MP-MLA court has been scheduled for June 17, he said.

The case was filed in October 2018 by Vijay Mishra. Gandhi had surrendered before the court on February 20, 2024, following which the special magistrate granted him bail on two sureties of Rs 25,000 each.

Gandhi appeared before the MP/MLA court on July 26, 2024, and recorded his statement, maintaining that he was innocent and terming the case a political conspiracy.

Following his statement, the court had directed the complainant’s side to produce evidence, after which witnesses were continuously examined in the matter. Earlier, on February 20, Gandhi’s statement was recorded under Section 313 of the CrPC before the MP-MLA court. The court had asked him to present his explanation and evidence regarding his innocence.