LUCKNOW, July 16 -- Additional chief judicial magistrate Alok Varma on Tuesday granted bail to leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed over his purported remarks on Army personnel during Bharat Jodo Yatra on December 16, 2022. The bail was effected after Gandhi's lawyer submitted bank documents of two fixed deposits of Rs 20,000 each. The court had asked Gandhi to appear in person as he had failed to do so in the previous five hearings. He came to court accompanied by the party's state unit president Ajay Rai and in-charge Avinash Pande. Advocate Sanjeev Pandey, coordinator, Congress committee, Lucknow, was also present with Rahul Gandhi in court. Security was beefed up along the route of Gandhi's travel and in and around the court premises. His lawyer Pranshu Agrawal had requested an exemption from personal appearance, but the court rejected it. The defamation complaint was filed by one Uday Shankar Srivastava, a retired director of the Border Roads Organisation. The complaint states that on December 16, 2022, Gandhi, while addressing various media personnel and the public during the Bharat Jodo Yatra, mentioned the clash between the Indian Army and the Chinese Army on the border of Arunachal Pradesh on December 9 (2022) and said that "people will ask about Bharat Jodo Yatra, but will not ask even once about the beating of our soldiers by Chinese soldiers." Gandhi's alleged statement was derogatory towards the Army and hurt the sentiments of the armed forces, according to the complainant. "Defamation and damaging the reputation of the Indian Army are the allegations which Rahul Gandhi is facing," said advocate Vivek Tewari who filed the complaint on behalf of Uday Shankar Srivastava. "The court has listed the case for next hearing on August 13 when we will demand framing of charges against Rahul Gandhi," he said. The additional CJM had earlier directed Rahul Gandhi to appear before the court on March 24, 2025, in the defamation case filed against him. Gandhi challenged the additional CJM's order, passed on February 11, 2025, in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC but did not get relief. Dismissing the Congress leader's petition, the HC held that the right to freedom of speech and expression does not extend to making defamatory statements against the Indian Army. A single-judge bench of Justice Subhash Vidyarthi on June 2, 2025, passed the order, rejecting Rahul Gandhi's petition challenging the additional CJM's order....