Rahul Gandhi, former president of the Congress party, faced a setback from the court as he received a second summons related to his alleged derogatory remarks about the then BJP president Amit Shah. The summons was issued by a Special Judicial Magistrate under the MP/MLA court, as the country heads towards the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
This legal development follows an initial court action that began in 2018 when a BJP worker, Naveen Jha, filed a lawsuit. Jha’s complaint stemmed from comments Gandhi allegedly made during a convention in Delhi, suggesting that unlike in the BJP, a person with Shah’s characteristics could not assume leadership in the Congress. These remarks, according to the plaintiff, were damaging to the BJP’s image and caused personal distress.
The court proceedings led by Magistrate Sarthak Sharma revisited the matter after the previous summonses seemingly failed to resolve the issue. Despite challenging the first summons, Gandhi found no relief as his petition was dismissed by the Jharkhand High Court.
This legal challenge coincides with other judicial troubles for Gandhi, including a conviction in a defamation case related to remarks about the surname ‘Modi’, which had initially cost him his parliamentary seat before the Supreme Court intervened with a stay on his conviction.
