Overview

• The defamation case, filed by BJP leader Pratap Katiyar, concerns remarks Rahul Gandhi made about then-BJP president Amit Shah during a 2018 Congress plenary session.
• Gandhi allegedly stated that even someone facing 'charges of murder' could become BJP president, which Katiyar claimed was defamatory and insulting to BJP workers.
• The case, initially filed in the Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Chaibasa in 2018, was later transferred to and from the MP-MLA courts in Ranchi and Chaibasa following court directives.
• Despite repeated summons, Gandhi failed to appear in court, leading to the escalation from a bailable warrant to the current non-bailable warrant.
• The court has ordered Gandhi to appear in person on June 26, 2025, marking a significant procedural development in the long-running case.