Sultanpur (UP), Aug 21 A court here on Friday gave a final opportunity to the complainant in a defamation case against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to approach the Allahabad High Court against an order related to a voice sample, and fixed September 3 for the next hearing.
The MP-MLA court heard applications and arguments from lawyers representing both sides during the hearing.
Gandhi's counsel Kashi Prasad Shukla said the matter was listed for arguments on Friday. However, complainant Vijay Mishra's counsel Santosh Kumar Pandey sought time to file a petition in the Allahabad High Court.
Mishra is a local BJP politician.
The court granted him another opportunity but warned that it would be the final one, and made it clear that arguments would have to be advanced on the next date.
Pandey said an application seeking matching of voice samples had earlier been rejected by the magistrate as well as the revisional court. He said the complainant wanted to challenge the orders in the high court but sought more time as obtaining certified copies of the orders had been delayed.
After hearing both sides, the court granted the requested time and fixed September 3 for the next hearing, he added.
The defamation complaint relates to remarks allegedly made by Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, in Bengaluru against Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the 2018 Karnataka assembly elections campaign.
Mishra filed the complaint before the Sultanpur MP/MLA court on August 4, 2018, alleging that the remarks were defamatory. The complainant referred to Gandhi's comment that the BJP claims to believe in honest and clean politics but has a party president who is an "accused" in a murder case.
Shah was the BJP president when Gandhi made the remark. About four years before Gandhi's remark, a special CBI court in Mumbai had discharged Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case when he was a minister of state for home in Gujarat.
After a warrant was issued in the case, Gandhi first appeared before the court on February 20, 2024, when the court granted him bail on two surety bonds of Rs 25,000 each. His statement was recorded on July 26, 2024, and he last appeared before the court on February 20 this year to present his defence.
