Jharkhand High Court on Friday dismissed the petition of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to quash the proceedings in a Ranchi trial (lower) court in a criminal defamation suit filed against him for calling Union home minister Amit Shah "a murder accused".

The bench of Justice Ambuj Nath had reserved the decision on February 16 after a written version of Rahul's speech was presented in the court.

Significantly, a case was filed against the Congress's former national president by BJP leader Navin Jha, alleging that during a Congress Plenary Session in New Delhi on March 18, 2018, Rahul made a speech against the BJP, labelling Shah as a "murder accused".

“The speech made by Rahul Gandhi has imputed the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership to be liars who are drunk with power and that the Bharatiya Janata Party workers will accept a person accused of murder as the president of Bharatiya Janata Party but people will never accept the same in the Congress party,” the court order said.

The petitioner had stated that the Congress leader's comments were an insult to all workers, supporters and the leaders "who have been working selflessly for the Bharatiya Janata Party".

Earlier this week, Rahul was granted bail by a district civil court in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, in the defamation case for using derogatory remarks against the Union home minister in 2018.