The top court had then issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the complainant in the case seeking their responses on Gandhi's plea.

Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, had told the apex court that it would be an unfortunate situation if the Leader of Opposition cannot raise issues.

He referred to Section 223 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and said prior hearing of the accused was mandatory before the court took cognisance of a criminal complaint, which was not done in the present case.

In his plea filed in a court, complainant Udai Shanker Srivastava alleged that Gandhi made several derogatory remarks against the Indian Army in context of the clashes with Chinese soldiers during his December 2022 yatra.

The trial court summoned Gandhi as an accused for facing trial for the alleged offence of defamation.

Gandhi's advocate Pranshu Agarwal argued that the allegations appeared to be fabricated, just by reading the complaint.

It was also argued that Gandhi is not a resident of Lucknow.

So the trial court should have investigated the veracity of the allegations before summoning him on this complaint, and he should have been summoned only if the allegations were prima facie found to be fit for trial.