Hearing in defamation case against Rahul Gandhi rescheduled to June 18

An MP-MLA court here on Friday postponed the hearing in the 2018 defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remarks targeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Gandhi's lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla said due to the death of a lawyer, a condolence meeting was held in the court on Friday and the hearing was postponed to June 18.

The Congress leader appeared in court in the defamation case in February and he was granted bail. The complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra.

Last December, the court issued a warrant against Gandhi. Subsequently, the Congress leader halted his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi on February 20, appeared in the court, and was granted bail.

The complaint was filed on August 4, 2018, against Gandhi for his alleged objectionable comments against Shah made at a press conference in Bengaluru in May of that year during the Karnataka elections.

The complainant referred to Gandhi's comments 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 comment.

About four years before Gandhi's remark, a special CBI court in Mumbai discharged Shah in a 2005 fake encounter case when he was a minister of state for home in Gujarat.