India, Sept. 9 -- The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to quash the summons issued to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in 2019 by a magistrate court in a complaint over his alleged defamatory comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A single bench of Justice N R Borkar dismissed Gandhi's petition against the magistrate court's order, but extended by six weeks an earlier directive to the lower court to defer hearing on the defamation plaint.

Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, sought the extension so that he can file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The direction to defer the hearing on the defamation complaint meant that Gandhi would not be required to appear before the magistrate.

Justice Borkar said it did not find a...