National Herald case: Sonia and Rahul Gandhi appear in court, granted bail - Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son and deputy Rahul Gandhi today appeared at the Patiala House court and were granted bail within minutes in the National Herald case.

Four other senior Congress leaders - Motilal Vora, Oscar Fernandes, Sam Pitroda and Suman Dubey - accused in the case were also granted bail by the court. The next hearing in this case will now take place on February 20.

The hearing started at 3 pm and ended by 3.03 pm. The Gandhis were represented by veteran Congress leader and senior lawyer Kapil Sibal. For his part, Sibal told reporters that the Gandhis were granted bail without any restrictions.

Sibal said BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who has filed the case, argued that the court must pass an order restricting the Gandhis from traveling abroad but the judge did not agree. "Dr Swamy insisted for passport conditions which was totally unnecessary for those who are deeply rooted in our society," Sibal said.

He said one bail application was moved on behalf of all accused and they had furnish one surety of Rs 50,000 each.

Earlier, Sonia and Rahul made a political point after arriving at the court as both choose not to use a special gate set aside for their cars to drive in. The Gandhis got off from their car outside the court complex and walked in.

After getting bail from the court, the Gandhis reached the Congress headquarters at 24 Akbar Road, where they addressed a brief conference.