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Rahul given bail, case to be heard on April 13
Gandhi, the former member of Parliament from Wayanad, challenged his March 23 conviction in the Surat sessions court on Monday
A Surat court on Monday granted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi bail and suspended his two-year prison sentence for criminal defamation, setting April 13 as the next date of hearing in his appeal against the conviction that cost him his seat in Parliament last month.
Gandhi, the former member of Parliament from Wayanad, challenged his March 23 conviction in the Surat sessions court on Monday. But the court refused to immediately stay his conviction and asked the complainant, state lawmaker Purnesh Modi, to respond to Gandhi’s petition by April 10.
“Rahul Gandhi has been granted bail by the honourable court. The sentencing was stayed. Now, the application for the stay of conviction is posted for hearing on April 13,” said advocate Rohan Panwala, who represents Gandhi.
A stay on the conviction is crucial for Gandhi as it can prompt the Lok Sabha secretariat to restore Gandhi’s seat in the Lok Sabha after he was disqualified from the House on March 24. The appellant (Gandhi) will need to be present during the hearing in person.
“In this struggle, truth is my weapon, and truth is my support!” tweeted Gandhi, who was present during the hearing.
The Congress’s legal team said Gandhi filed two appeals as a part of his petition — one against the sentencing (asking for bail) and the other one to stay the conviction. Gandhi was convicted of criminal defamation by a Surat court for comments made ahead of the 2019 general elections on the Modi surname. The lower court sentenced him to two years in prison but gave him 30 days to appeal the judgment.
“The outcome of the hearing has been satisfactory,” said Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, “But what is noteworthy is the way the complainant (Purnesh Modi) took deliberate extension to make the process longer.”
Additional sessions judge RP Mogera said Gandhi will remain on bail, pending hearing of the appeal, on furnishing a bond of ₹15,000.The order also suspended his sentence.
The Congress turned Gandhi’s journey to Surat into a major show-of-strength. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary KC Venugopal, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, former Union minister Ajay Maken, and several senior leaders accompanied Gandhi to Surat.
The move triggered a political row. Union law minister Kiren Rijiju alleged that the decision of Congress leaders to accompany Gandhi was attempting to exert “undue pressure” on the judiciary.
“Shri Rahul Gandhi never ceases to amaze! So far, he avoided appearing in courts, and would field lawyers to secure exemption from his personal appearance. And now he is taking a procession to Surat when personal appearance is not needed,” Rijiju tweeted.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor dismissed the BJP’s charges. “That is an absurd allegation. First of all, who attends the court is not a source of pressure. If at all there is a source of pressure on the judiciary, I think we can all guess where that is likely to come from,” the former Union minister said.
Under the law, the conviction and two-year jail term renders Gandhi unfit to enter either House of Parliament for a period of eight years. But this can be reversed if he can get the conviction overturned by a higher court.
In his petition, Gandhi said the conviction was erroneous, patently perverse, and unduly harsh, arguing that the trial court substantially based its finding on the fact that he was an MP.
“Even while deciding the merits of the case, the learned judge inferred that being a Member of Parliament the appellant would have known the effects of the words allegedly used by him. At the stage of awarding sentence, the applicant was chosen for the harshest possible sentence, predominantly because he was at the time of occurrence, a Member of Parliament. Further as a parliamentarian he had to be dealt with sternly to give full deterrent effect to the provisions concerning to defamation,” said the petition, a copy of which HT has seen.
“Since the learned trial Judge was overwhelmingly influenced by the status of applicant as Member of Parliament, he certainly presumed that the award of maximum sentence of two years would entail disqualification as a Member of Parliament. It, therefore, appears reasonable to argue that the applicant was really sentenced in a manner so as to attract the order of disqualification,” the plea added.
Since his conviction, Gandhi has been asked to vacate his official residence in Delhi. The development has also sparked a rare moment of Opposition unity with most parties opposed to the BJP backing him.
“The judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the CJM (chief judicial magistrate) is erroneous, patently perverse, in flagrant violation of principles of appreciation of evidence in criminal trial, illegal and unwarranted on the facts and circumstances of the case and on the evidence to substantiate the charge levelled against the appellant/accused,” said the petition.
“The issue may also be looked at from the point of view of the electorate. The disqualification of an elected representative essentially interferes with the choice of the electorate in a free and fair election. The disqualification disentitles the said elected representative from re-contesting the bypoll and consequently the electorate has to forgo the right to have a representative, who is truly representative of the majority voters of the constituency,” the plea further argued.