Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Tuesday granted bail by a court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, following his appearance in a case of defamation dating back to 2018. Rahul has been granted bail on a surety of Rs 25,000.
Rahul, who is leading his party’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Uttar Pradesh, appeared before a local court in Sultanpur on Tuesday following the court’s directions.
The matter pertains to Gandhi allegedly calling Union Minister Amit Shah a “murderer” in his speech in 2018.
On Rahul Gandhi being granted bail by the district court, his advocate, Santosh Pandey, said, “He (Rahul Gandhi) surrendered in the court today. He surrendered and the court took him into custody for 30-45 minutes. After that, his bail application was submitted and was accepted (by the court)… The further date has not been given yet. His lawyer said that he is innocent and he has not made any defamatory statement…”
Meanwhile, as Gandhi had to appear before a court, the Nyay Yatra was briefly paused on Tuesday morning and is scheduled to resume again at 2 pm today.
Taking to social media X, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh, said that Rahul Gandhi has been issued a summons to appear before “the District Civil Court in Sultanpur tomorrow morning in connection with a defamation case filed by a BJP leader on August 4, 2018”.
“The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will, therefore, pause tomorrow morning and will resume the February 20th program at 2 pm from Fursatganj in Amethi,” Jairam Ramesh added.