A court in Lucknow has summoned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in response to his allegedly defamatory comments about the Indian Army during the 2022 Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Alok Verma has ordered Gandhi to appear for the hearing on March 24.

The complaint, filed by lawyer Vivek Tiwari on behalf of Uday Shankar Srivastava—a former director of the Border Roads Organization with a rank equivalent to an Army Colonel—alleges that Gandhi’s remarks on December 16, 2022, about the December 9, 2022, clash between the Indian and Chinese armies were derogatory and defamatory toward the Indian military.

Gandhi’s statement, which claimed "Chinese soldiers are beating up Indian Army personnel in Arunachal Pradesh," was aimed at criticizing the government over Chinese actions at the Line of Actual Control. It sparked significant backlash and led to a major political controversy.

Earlier this year, in January, the Supreme Court stayed criminal defamation proceedings against Gandhi, who had been accused of calling Union Home Minister and former BJP President Amit Shah a murder accused.

This case stemmed from a complaint filed by BJP leader Navin Jha, accusing Gandhi of making defamatory remarks in a speech on March 18, 2018, in which he criticized the BJP and accused Shah of involvement in murder.