An MP/MLA Court in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur district today acquitted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for allegedly making a 'defamatory' statement about then BJP President Amit Shah in 2018.

Gandhi was present in court when Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Shubham Verma pronounced the verdict.

The defamation case, filed by BJP Leader Vijay Mishra in 2018, accuses Gandhi of making 'objectionable' comments against Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru. He had allegedly called Shah, the then BJP President, a "murder accused".

During the proceedings, Gandhi disputed the allegations against him. It was his stance that the remarks had been presented out of context. The complainant, on the other hand, maintained that the remarks were defamatory.

It was the complainant's case that Gandhi had attacked BJP president Amit Shah in a political rally ahead of the Karnataka election in 2018, by referring to Shah as a murder accused. Gandhi was accused of making the following statement.

"People in India forget that the president of BJP is a murder accused. That's the truth. The party that talks about honesty, decency, has a person who has been accused of murder as president".

Gandhi's reference was understood to be an accusation regarding the allegations that Mr Shah was involved in the extrajudicial killing of Sohrabuddin Sheik, a petty criminal, in 2005.

Mr. R. S. Cheema, Sr Adv along with Mr. Kashi Nath Shukhla, Ms. Tarannum Cheema, Mr. Prasanna S, Mr. Kanishka Singh, Mr. Akash Singh and Mr. Sivam Thripati and Aman Khan appeared for Rahul Gandhi