On Saturday, April 29, the Gujarat Court is slated to hear the Congress leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi’s plea against a Surat court’s refusal to give a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case. Rahul Gandhi was convicted in the defamation case stemming from his statement about the “Modi surname”.
The matter was earlier brought up by Gandhi’s lawyer P S Champaneri on April 26 before Justice Gita Gopi of Gujarat HC but the justice refused to hear the case by saying, “not before me”. The development came a day after the former MP moved to the High Court. Now, the court of Justice Hemant Prachchhak is slated to hear his case.
On April 20, A Surat court of Additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera rejected Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on the conviction. “If such power is exercised in a casual and mechanical manner, the same would have a serious impact on the public perception of the justice delivery systems and such order will shake public confidence in judiciary,” the court had said.
Gandhi petitions the High Court to overturn his conviction on the grounds that it was disproportionately harsh and that losing his Lok Sabha membership as a result has done him irreparable injury.
Rahul Gandhi was convicted and sentenced to two years in jail by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Surat on March 23 for his defamatory comments against people with Modi surname in a speech in 2019.
A criminal defamation case was filed by Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi after Rahul Gandhi in an election rally had asked why everyone with the Modi surname is a thief, mentioning Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, and Narendra Modi. Gandhi was convicted under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation).
A day after the conviction, the leader was disqualified from Lok Sabha.
