A Sultanpur court has acquitted Rahul Gandhi in a 2018 defamation case. The case was over remarks he made about Amit Shah at a Bengaluru rally in May 2018.
Updated: October 27, 2026, 10:40 AM IST
Quick Read:
- A Sultanpur special MP-MLA court acquitted Rahul Gandhi on October 26, 2026.
- The case was over his May 8, 2018 remarks in Bengaluru about Amit Shah, then the BJP president.
- The court case ran for years, with three witnesses examined and several pleas rejected along the way.
The verdict
Additional Civil Judge Shubham Verma of the Sultanpur special MP-MLA court acquitted Rahul Gandhi on October 26, 2026. The verdict ends a case that began in 2018.
Gandhi’s lawyer, Kashi Prasad Shukla, confirmed the acquittal. News reports on October 26 and 27 carried the same core fact: acquitted.
Deccan Herald added one legal detail. It reported that the court held the complainant was not an “aggrieved person” under Section 199(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). In simple words: the court found the complaint did not meet that legal test for who can file such a case. The verdict had been reserved on October 13, Deccan Herald reported, before it was delivered on October 26.
What the case was about
On May 8, 2018, Gandhi spoke at a rally in Bengaluru. Karnataka was in the middle of assembly polls then. In his speech, he called Amit Shah — then the BJP president — a “murder accused”.
That remark became the centre of the case. The complaint said the words defamed Shah. Gandhi’s defence said the words were spoken in good faith. It said there was no intent to defame. It said the remark was taken out of context.
A court acquittal does not settle the political argument. It settles the legal case. The two are not the same thing.
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Who filed the complaint, and when
Vijay Mishra filed the complaint on August 4, 2018. At that time, he was the BJP’s district vice-president in Sultanpur. He had also served as chairman of the Sultanpur District Cooperative Bank.
Mishra filed under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 499 defines defamation. Section 500 sets the punishment for it. In simple words: the complaint claimed Gandhi’s words harmed Shah’s reputation.
The case moved slowly, as many such cases do. Gandhi was summoned on November 27, 2023. He surrendered before the court on February 20, 2024. He got bail the same day.
The long road to trial
Three witnesses were examined during the trial. That number is small for a case that ran eight years. But defamation trials often turn on documents and the exact words used, not on a long witness list.
Along the way, the defence sought a voice sample. The idea was to test the speech recording. The trial court rejected the plea. The sessions court also rejected it. The Allahabad High Court rejected it too.
Each rejection narrowed the case. By trial’s end, the fight was over the words, the context, and the legal test for who could complain.
The context both sides cited
The defence pointed to good faith and context. A poll speech, it argued, is political speech. Strong words in a campaign are not the same as a false claim made with intent to harm.
The complaint pointed to the specific phrase. Calling a person a “murder accused” in public, it argued, harms reputation, even in a poll speech.
The court has now ruled. The full written order will give the detailed reasons. News reports so far carry the outcome and the CrPC 199(1) point reported by Deccan Herald. Readers should wait for the full order for the court’s full reasoning.
A separate fact about Amit Shah
For context only: Amit Shah was discharged by a special CBI court in 2014 in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. That is a separate case, from years before the 2018 rally. It is not the case Gandhi was acquitted in. It is included here only because the 2018 remark referred to it.
Mixing the two cases up is easy. Keep them apart. One is the 2014 discharge. The other is the 2018-2026 defamation case in Sultanpur. The Sultanpur case is now closed with an acquittal.
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Reactions: what to trust, what to hold
Political reactions followed the verdict. Congress workers in Sultanpur celebrated, according to news reports. That is a report of a reaction, not a court fact. This post keeps the two apart on purpose.
No court order says workers must celebrate. No celebration changes the verdict. If you read claims about what workers said or did, check whether the report names a person and a place. Named, checkable claims carry more weight than crowd claims.
The BJP side had not, in the reports checked for this post, announced a plan to appeal at the time of writing. If an appeal is filed later, it will be a new step. It does not undo the acquittal till a higher court rules.
Why this case drew attention
MP-MLA courts handle cases against lawmakers. That alone draws press attention. Add a top opposition leader, a top ruling-party leader, and a remark from a poll campaign, and the case was always going to be watched.
Defamation cases against politicians also raise a wider question. Where does sharp political speech end and defamation begin? Courts answer that question case by case. They look at exact words, context, and intent. They do not set one rule for all speeches.
This verdict answers it for this speech, in this case. It does not set a blanket rule for all poll speeches.
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FAQ
Q: Who acquitted Rahul Gandhi, and when? A: Additional Civil Judge Shubham Verma of the Sultanpur special MP-MLA court acquitted him on October 26, 2026.
Q: What was the case about? A: It was over remarks Gandhi made at a May 8, 2018 rally in Bengaluru, where he called Amit Shah, then BJP president, a “murder accused”. Vijay Mishra filed the complaint on August 4, 2018, under IPC Sections 499 and 500.
Q: Can the verdict be challenged? A: In general, an acquittal can be challenged in a higher court. No appeal plan was reported in the sources checked for this post at the time of writing. Any appeal would be a fresh step.
Sources: New Indian Express, The Week, Oneindia, Deccan Herald, October 26-27, 2026 (verdict reports); lawyer Kashi Prasad Shukla (confirmation of acquittal); complaint record (Vijay Mishra, August 4, 2018, IPC 499/500).
