Sultanpur/Hathras (Uttar Pradesh): A court in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur on Wednesday rejected a revision petition seeking a forensic examination of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's voice sample in a 2018 defamation case linked to his remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In a separate development, an MP/MLA court in Hathras issued a notice to Gandhi on a revision petition in a defamation complaint related to his remarks on the 2020 Boolgarhi rape case.
The MP/MLA court in Sultanpur granted relief to Gandhi by dismissing the revision petition filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra.
Gandhi's counsel, Kashi Prasad Shukla, said Additional District Judge Rakesh Yadav rejected the petition, holding that it had been filed after an inordinate delay and lacked merit.
Mishra had sought a forensic comparison of Gandhi's alleged voice in a CD submitted as evidence with a fresh voice sample.
The court observed that the trial court had exercised its discretion appropriately and that there was no ground for interference.
The matter will now proceed before the trial court, where arguments are scheduled to be heard on July 18, Shukla said.
Counsel for the complainant, Santosh Kumar Pandey, said they respected the order but would challenge it before the Allahabad High Court.
The MP/MLA court had earlier rejected the application seeking a forensic examination of Gandhi's voice sample on May 2. The revision petition challenging that order was filed on May 21. After hearing arguments on July 1, the court reserved its verdict, which was delivered on Wednesday.
The defamation complaint stems from remarks allegedly made by Gandhi against Amit Shah during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election campaign. Mishra filed the complaint before the Sultanpur MP/MLA court, alleging that the remarks were defamatory.
Notice issued in Boolgarhi defamation case
In the Hathras case, Additional District Judge Vijay Kumar of the MP/MLA court issued a notice to Gandhi after admitting a revision petition in a defamation complaint linked to his remarks on the 2020 Boolgarhi rape case.
The court fixed August 11 as the next date of hearing, advocate Munna Singh Pundhir said.
Pundhir, who represents Ravi, Ram Kumar alias Ramu and Lav Kush — the three men acquitted of rape charges in the Boolgarhi case — said an Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division) and MP/MLA court had dismissed the complaint against Gandhi on May 13.
The complainants subsequently challenged that order by filing the revision petition.
A Dalit woman from Boolgarhi village was allegedly gangraped in September 2020 and died during treatment at a Delhi hospital a few days later. Four men from the village were accused in the case. Three of them — Ramkumar, Luvkush and Ravi — were acquitted, while Sandeep was convicted and remains in prison.
According to Pundhir, Gandhi visited Boolgarhi village on December 12, 2024, and allegedly stated that the accused were "roaming free" while the victim's family remained confined to their home.
The advocate argued that the remarks were defamatory because the three men had already been acquitted of rape charges following a CBI investigation and a trial that lasted more than two-and-a-half years.
The complainants had earlier served a legal notice on Gandhi seeking damages of ₹1.5 crore — ₹50 lakh each for the three acquitted men — before filing the criminal defamation complaint, the lawyer said.