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'My duty remains the same', says Rahul Gandhi after Supreme Court relief
The Supreme Court while passing the interim order said that a person in public life is expected to exercise caution while making public speeches.
After the Supreme Court stayed the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the defamation case over Modi surname remark on Friday, the latter said that his duty of protecting the idea of India remains the same and would continue to do so.
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"Come what may, my duty remains the same. Protect the idea of India," he said on X (formerly Twitter), following the apex court's ruling, granting him relief by staying his conviction by a Surat lower court.
The Congress leader was also accorded a grand welcome by the party workers at the All India Congress Committee headquarter in New Delhi. Congress has been celebrating the Supreme Court's decision to stay Gandhi's conviction in the defamation case, that costed him the MP seat. The party hailed the decision as "strong vindication of truth" adding that the Constitution has been upheld and the BJP's "conspiratorial hounding of Gandhi has been thoroughly exposed".
The Supreme Court while passing the interim order said that a person in public life is expected to exercise caution while making public speeches. It further said that ramifications of the trial court’s order are wide, the Congress leader ought to have been more careful.
Read here: 'Will continue legal battle': Complainant BJP MLA on SC relief to Rahul Gandhi
“Trial judge has awarded maximum sentence of two years. Except for the admonition by Supreme Court, no other reason has been granted for this by the trial judge forwarding a maximum of two years of the sentence. It is to be noted only on account of this maximum sentence, provisions of the Representation of People Act have come into play. Had the sentence been a day lesser, provisions would not have been attracted,” the bench stated in its order.
Gandhi was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment by a Surat local court which disqualified him as MP from Kerala’s Wayanad on March 24 following notification of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, under the rigours of the Representation of People Act.
The Lok Sabha speaker can now revive his membership on his own or Gandhi, armed with the top court order, seek restoration of his status as an MP.
Former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed the case against Rahul Gandhi over his "How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?" remark made during an election rally in Karnataka Kolar in 2019.
