Won’t tender apology to settle defamation case, Rahul tells SC

This is the first time Gandhi has made a statement in the top court that he would not apologise even as he seeks a stay on his conviction.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday submitted in the Supreme Court that he would not apologise to settle the criminal defamation case that cost him his membership from parliament, maintaining that his conviction by a Surat court is unsustainable and that he has an “excellent” chance of success in his appeal.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi refuses to apologise in defamation case. (PTI)

This is the first time Gandhi has made a statement in the top court that he would not apologise even as he seeks a stay on his conviction to be able to regain his MP status.

In his rejoinder affidavit filed on Thursday, Gandhi criticised Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Purnesh Modi --- the complainant in the defamation case against him, for calling him “arrogant” in an affidavit before the court just because Gandhi refused to tender an apology and express remorse over his remarks on ‘Modi’ surname at a poll rally in 2019.

“Using the criminal /process and the consequences under the Representation of People Act to arm twist the petitioner into apologising for no fault, is gross abuse of the judicial process and ought not to be countenanced by this Court. The petitioner maintains and has always maintained that he is not guilty of the offence and that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier,” stated Gandhi’s affidavit, settled by senior advocates Prashanto C Sen and Rajinder Cheema. Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi argues the matter for Gandhi.

Instead, the Congress leader said, his case has excellent chances of success before the appellate court and is an “exceptional case”, considering that the offence is a trivial one and that irreparable harm accrues to him as an elected MP because of continuing disqualification.

Requesting the apex court to stay his conviction, Gandhi pointed out that though Purnesh Modi has harped upon several pending cases against him to demonstrate his alleged criminal antecedent, he has not been convicted in any other case and most of the pending cases have been instituted by leaders of rival political parties.

Gandhi added that defamation is not an offence against society that should attract the consequences he is being made to suffer and that repeated reference to his stature and public standing is an extraneous consideration that must not come in the way of granting him the reprieve.

“The petitioner is a parliamentarian and a leader of the Opposition, and therefore it was necessary for him to critically evaluate the conduct and performance of the ruling establishment. It would be necessary to read the speech as a whole to infer the intention to defame. In any case these factors would not change the character of the offence with regard to gravity as such. Moreover, it is undisputed from the perusal of the provisions that defamation is a non-cognizable, bailable and compoundable offence,” he said.

The exceptional award of maximum punishment of two years by the Surat court in March, Gandhi said, is a major consideration for the court to consider the stay of sentence.

A bench led by justice BR Gavai is expected to take up Gandhi’s appeal on August 4. On July 21, the top court issued a notice on Gandhi’s appeal against the Gujarat high court order that declined to put on hold his conviction and a two-year jail term in the criminal defamation case.

The appeal was filed on July 15, a week after the high court dealt a blow to his endeavour to revive his Lok Sabha membership, ruling that the Congress leader “breached modesty” and that his offence involved “moral turpitude”.

In his plea, Gandhi urged the top court to immediately stay his conviction to enable him to regain his MP status, arguing the conviction order would lead to throttling of free speech, free expression, free thought, and free statement.

“It would contribute to the systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions and the consequent strangulation of democracy which would be gravely detrimental to the political climate and future of India,” the Congress leader said.

Gandhi complained that a political speech in the course of democratic political activity, critical of economic offenders, and also of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been held to be an act of moral turpitude inviting the harshest punishment.

Responding to the court notice, Purnesh Modi, MLA from Gujarat’s Surat-West, on July 31 said that Gandhi’s personal hatred towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi led him to cast grossly defamatory aspersions on persons who incidentally bore the same surname as the prime minister,

“The attitude of the petitioner disentitles him to any relief in the form of stay of conviction as it reveals arrogant entitlement, rank insensitivity to an offended community and contempt for the law,” said Punesh Modi’s reply affidavit.