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Rahul Gandhi moves Gujarat high court seeking stay on conviction in defamation case
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday approached the Gujarat high court, seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case, days after a sessions court in Surat rejected his appeal against his conviction and two-year jail term by the trial court last month
Ahmedabad: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday approached the Gujarat high court, seeking a stay on his conviction in a defamation case, days after a sessions court in Surat rejected his appeal against his conviction and two-year jail term by the trial court last month.
The case pertains to a comment made by Gandhi during a political rally in Karnataka in April 2019, where he allegedly said, “why all thieves share the Modi surname?”
“We have filed an application in the Gujarat high court today challenging the Surat court’s recent verdict. I cannot share any more information in this matter for now,” said advocate Pankaj Champaneri, Gandhi’s counsel.
The petition was moved on Tuesday challenging the Surat sessions court’s April 20 order dismissing his application seeking a stay on his conviction.
The order meant the Congress leader’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha continues. A metropolitan magistrate had on March 23 convicted Gandhi and sentenced him to two-year imprisonment. Gandhi was disqualified as MP from Kerala’s Wayanad on March 24.
On April 3, the former Congress chief filed an appeal before the sessions court in Surat against the magistrate’s order. He was subsequently granted bail till the disposal of his plea. On April 20, Gandhi told the sessions court that his disqualification would cause him “irreparable loss and irreversible injury”.
Conviction and two-year jail term also leave Gandhi ineligible to contest elections for eight years. This can be reversed if a higher court overturns his conviction or reduces his sentence to less than two years.
Gandhi argued his comments about the Modi surname during a speech in Karnataka were not defamatory and taken out of context.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Purnesh Modi, who is the complainant in the case, called Gandhi a repeat offender and said the Congress leader’s appeal was a “dirty display of childish arrogance”.
The Surat court’s April 20 verdict dashed his hopes of a quick reinstatement as the Lok Sabha MP.
Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera in his April 20 order cited Gandhi’s stature as an MP and former chief of the country’s second-largest political party, and said he should have been more careful in his comments. He cited prima facie evidence and observations of the trial court and said it appeared Gandhi made certain derogatory remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi apart from comparing the people with the same surname with thieves. “...the appellant was not an ordinary person and was sitting MP, connected with public life. Any word spoken by appellant would have large impact in mind of common public...Moreover, high standard of morality is expected from a person like appellant and the learned trial court had inflicted sentence which was permissible in law,” said the 27-page judgment.
