Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case: Court to Rule on Forensic Voice Test Plea on July 15

A district court in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur on Wednesday reserved its order until July 15 on a revision petition in the defamation case against Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Raebareli MP Rahul Gandhi , following detailed arguments from both the complainant and the Congress leader's legal team.

The revision petition was filed by Vijay Mishra , a local BJP leader, challenging a lower court's decision rejecting his request for a forensic examination to compare the voice in a CD containing the alleged defamatory remarks with Rahul Gandhi's voice.

The petition was moved before the Additional District Judge (ADJ)-5 court on May 21 . After hearing submissions from both sides on Wednesday, the court reserved its verdict for July 15 .

According to the complainant's counsel, Santosh Kumar Pandey , the petitioner relied on several Supreme Court and High Court judgments to argue that the forensic examination was necessary. He said the matter involved significant legal and technical questions regarding the lower court's order. Gandhi's counsel also presented their arguments before the court concluded the hearing.

The main defamation case is scheduled to come up before the MP-MLA court on July 6 .

The case relates to remarks allegedly made by Rahul Gandhi against the then BJP president and current Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a press conference ahead of the 2018 Karnataka Assembly elections . Claiming the remarks were defamatory, BJP leader Vijay Mishra filed a complaint before a Sultanpur court, which took cognisance of the case and ordered trial proceedings. Gandhi was granted bail on February 20, 2024 , and his statement was recorded on July 26, 2024 . The pending revision petition will determine whether a forensic voice examination can be included as evidence in the trial.