Court summons to Rahul in defamation suit for calling Shah 'murder-accused'

A court in Ahmedabad Wednesday issued summons to Congress president Rahul Gandhi in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a BJP worker for calling BJP chief Amit Shah a "murder accused".

Additional chief metropolitan magistrate D S Dabhi issued a summons, returnable on July 6, holding that prima facie (on the face of it) there was a case of criminal defamation against Gandhi under section 500 of the IPC.

Krishnavadan Brahmbhatt, a local BJP corporator stated in the complaint that Gandhi, at an election rally in Jabalpur on April 23, said, "Murder-accused BJP chief Amit Shah, wah, kya shaan hai (how glorious)!"

Brahmbhatt contended that Gandhi's remark was defamatory as Shah, in 2015, was acquitted by a CBI court in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case.

Neither the High Court nor the Supreme Court entertained challenge to Shah's acquittal, he said.

"Gandhi (thus) committed offence of defamation as per sections 499 and 500 of the IPC," he said.

The CBI court's January 2, 2015