Hearing in a 2018 defamation case against Rahul Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remarks targeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been fixed for May 27 following the appointment of a new judge to the special court.
The defamation complaint against Mr. Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra six years ago.
The plaintiff's advocate, Santosh Pandey, said the matter would be heard on May 27. Gandhi's lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla said the case could not be taken up during the day due to the non-appointment of a judge of the MP/MLA court.
The judge was transferred a month ago and a new judge is yet to be appointed.
Last December, the court issued a warrant against Rahul Gandhi. Subsequently, Mr. Gandhi halted his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Amethi on February 20, appeared in the court and was granted bail.
The complaint was filed here on August 4, 2018, against Rahul 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 Mr. 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 BJP president when Gandhi made the comment.
About four years before Mr. 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.
