A lower court in Gujarat’s Surat sentenced Gandhi on March 23 to two years in jail on charges of defamation
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to file an appeal before a sessions court in Gujarat’s Surat city on Monday, challenging his conviction in a criminal defamation case in connection with his remark on ‘Modi surname’. Rahul Gandhi will be present in the sessions court to file the plea against a metropolitan court’s order sentencing him to two years in jail.
“Rahul Gandhi will reach the sessions court in Surat to file an appeal at around 3 pm,” his lawyer Kirit Panwala said.
Senior Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will also be in Surat when Gandhi arrives on Monday afternoon, according to party sources.
Rahul Gandhi is expected to reach Surat at 2.00 pm in the afternoon.
BJP CALLS RAHUL’S MOVE ‘CHILDISH’
Terming the Congress leader’s move to visit Surat as a ‘childish move’, Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said Rahul Gandhi is not required to go personally to file an appeal against the conviction.
“Rahul Gandhi might be going to Surat to file an Appeal. It is not required of a convict to go personally to file an Appeal. Generally, no convict goes personally. His going personally with a motley group of leaders and aides accompanying him is only a drama,” he said
“What Rahul Gandhi is doing is also a childish attempt to bring pressure on the appellate court. All courts in the country are immune from such tactics,” Rijiju added.
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RAHUL GANDHI’S CONVICTION IN ‘MODI SURNAME’ CASE
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma here had on March 23 convicted Gandhi and sentenced him to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks.
It had held 52-year-old Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500.
The court had also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to appeal in a higher court.
Gandhi was present in the court when it pronounced the verdict in the case.
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RAHUL GANDHI’S DISQUALIFICATION FORM LOK SABHA
The sentence of two years invited his disqualification from the membership of Parliament under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The RP Act holds that an MP or a member of the legislative Assembly (MLA) convicted for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.
After disqualification, Gandhi would not be able to contest elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.
DEFAMATION CASE AGAINST RAHUL GANDHI
The case was filed against Gandhi on a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for the Congress leader’s alleged remarks “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
Gandhi, who had served as an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019 during the Lok Sabha elections campaign.
He had campaigned for the Congress before the Gujarat Assembly polls held in December 2022. His party won just 17 out of the total 182 seats, its worst poll performance since the formation of the state in 1960.
In his complaint, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi had alleged that Gandhi, while addressing the poll rally in 2019, defamed the entire Modi community by purportedly saying,
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“How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Purnesh Modi was a minister in the first tenure of the Bhupendra Patel government.
The ruling party legislator was re-elected from the Surat West Assembly seat in the elections held in December last year.
