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India's Ex-Opposition Leader Pleads Not Guilty to Defamation

Associated Press

   NEW DELHI - The former leader of India's opposition Congress party and
   descendant of a string of prime ministers has pleaded not guilty in two
   separate defamation cases filed against him in Gujarat state.

   Rahul Gandhi entered the pleas in the two cases on Thursday and Friday.
   Both cases were filed by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
   and involve statements made during an election campaign in April 2019.

   In one, Gandhi is accused of referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
   as a thief, and in the other, of calling India's home minister an
   accused murderer.

   He was charged with criminal defamation, which provides a maximum
   penalty of two years' imprisonment.

   A senior fellow at the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy in Bangalore, Alok
   Prasanna, says Gandhi is unlikely to be convicted.

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