E-Paper
BJP's 'not first time' salvo on Congress leader's 'will chop off tongue' remark
Congress has come under fire after its local functionary in Tamil Nadu threatened the judge who found Rahul Gandhi guilty in the 2019 defamation case.
Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday hit out at Congress after its party functionary in Tamil Nadu threatened to chop off the tongue of the judge who delivered the verdict convicting Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 defamation case, saying “they are frustrated”. Rijiju said the Congress party attacked the judiciary even before India's Emergency period and has now “intensified the attack in frustration.”
“This is not happening for the first time that Congress is threatening the judiciary. Even before the Emergency, the Congress people attacked the Judiciary. They are doing it now also because they are frustrated. We believe in the Constitution,” Rijiju told reporters.
In a video doing rounds on social media, the Congress district president of Dindigul, Manikandan, purportedly threatened to chop off the tongue of the chief judicial magistrate in Surat for convicting Rahul Gandhi in the criminal defamation case.
"When we will come to power, we will chop off the tongue of the judge who delivered the verdict to send our leader Rahul Gandhi to jail," Manikandan was heard saying at a protest march organised by Congress on Thursday.
A case has been registered against him under three sections, including section 153B of the India Penal Code, according to the Dindigul police. An investigation is also underway into the incident.
Congress has come under fire for the local leader's remark, with BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya asking if courts will take suo moto cognisance in the matter and hold Rahul Gandhi accountable.
A Surat court held Rahul Gandhi guilty in the defamation case over the "Modi surname” remarks and sentenced him to two years in prison. The court, however, granted bail to Gandhi and suspended his sentence for 30 days to allow him to appeal against the decision.
A sessions court in Surat on Monday granted bail to Gandhi and will hear on April 13 the Congress leader's plea for a stay of his conviction. The former Congress chief in his appeal against his conviction and sentence by a Magistrate's court contended that the order was "erroneous and patently perverse", alleging he was sentenced in a manner so as to attract disqualification as a Member of Parliament.
