A Lucknow court on Tuesday granted bail to Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha and Congress Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi after he appeared in a defamation case filed over his purported remarks on Army personnel, his lawyer said.
The case relates to alleged defamatory remarks against Indian soldiers made during his Bharat Jodo Yatra in 2022, his counsel, advocate Pranshu Agarwal, told news agency PTI.
Following his appearance, the Additional CJM Alok Verma-led MP-MLA Court granted Gandhi relief on furnishing two bonds of ₹20,000 each. The bail was effected after Gandhi furnished a bail bond and sureties as directed by the court.
Gandhi was summoned as an accused after the court took cognisance of the defamation complaint. The Congress leader had moved the high court but failed to get relief.
Gandhi appeared in a courtroom full of lawyers. He was taken to the judge’s chamber, where the formalities of filing bond and sureties took place. Congress party’s state unit president Ajay Rai and in-charge Avinash Pande also accompanied Gandhi.
“He (Gandhi) is scheduled to attend the court hearing and would return to Delhi later in the day. He is likely to come to Uttar Pradesh again to visit his constituency Raebareli over the next few days,” Rai told PTI before the hearing.
Security was beefed up along the route of his travel and in and around the court premises.
The defamation complaint was filed by one Uday Shankar Srivastava, a retired director of the Border Roads Organisation (equivalent to the rank of colonel in the Army).
The complaint alleged that on December 16, 2022, Gandhi, while addressing various media personnel and the public during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, mentioned the clash between the Indian Army and the Chinese Army on the border of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 (2022) and said that “people will ask what all about Bharat Jodo Yatra, but will not ask even once about the beating of our soldiers by Chinese soldiers”.
The complainant alleged his sentiments were hurt by Gandhi’s statement about the alleged beating of Indian soldiers by the Chinese soldiers.
On February 11, the special court ordered Gandhi to be summoned on charges of defamation.
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