On 7th July 2023, Gujarat High Court dismissed Rahul Gandhi’s plea to stay the conviction in the criminal defamation suit in the ‘Modi Surname’ case. Justice Hemant Prachchhak refused to stay Rahul Gandhi’s conviction.
Notably, the conviction in the case resulted in his disqualification as a Member of Parliament. Rahul Gandhi was an elected member of Lok Sabha from the Wayanad constituency of Kerala. He won that seat in the 2019 general elections. The court’s dismissal of the review plea by the Congress scion will further prolong his disqualification.
Justice Hemant Prachchhak said in his order, “Rahul Gandhi is seeking a stay on conviction on absolutely non-existent grounds. A stay on conviction is not a rule. As many as 10 cases are pending against him. It is needed to have purity in politics. A complaint has been filed against Rahul Gandhi by the grandson of Veer Savarkar in Pune Court after Rahul Gandhi used terms against Veer Savarkar at Cambridge. In any way, the conviction would not result in any injustice. The conviction is just and proper. There is no need to interfere with the said order. Therefore, the application is dismissed.”
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified because of his conviction in defamation case
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified under section 8(3) of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, which states that any MP or MLA convicted of any offense and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.
Rahul Gandhi, the Lok Sabha MP from Wayanad in Kerala, has been disqualified with immediate effect, as section 8(3) of the Representation of Peoples Act states that an MP or MLA will be disqualified from the date of conviction if the jail sentence awarded is two years or more.
How long will the disqualification last?
Apart from the current disqualification, Rahul Gandhi will also not be able to contest the next general election, and also perhaps the 2029 elections, if the conviction is not overturned by a higher court. According to the law, the disqualification will continue for six years after release from jail.
Therefore, if Rahul Gandhi does not appeal and goes to jail now, he will remain disqualified for eight years, 2 years in jail and 6 years after that. If he appeals, which he will, as announced by the Congress party, it will depend on how long it stays in the courts till the Supreme Court, and what is the final verdict. Theoretically, if Rahul Gandhi does not get relief from the courts up to Supreme Court, the length of his disqualification will increase by the time taken in the appeal process. However, if any subsequent court overturns the verdict or even reduces the sentence, his disqualification will be withdrawn.
What are the options before Rahul Gandhi now?
According to Supreme Court lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, Rahul Gandhi now has the option of filing a petition in the High Court in front of a larger bench or the Supreme Court. He said, “Rahul Gandhi may first file a petition for bail. If a bail plea is rejected, he may have to go to jail. Such a case has come before the court before. The Supreme Court, in the Lily Thomas case of 2013 and in another case of 2018, had said that the disqualification of a public representative under the Representation of the People Act can be overturned if the sentence is suspended or the conviction is stayed by an appellate court. However, it is necessary that the appellate court also suspends the decision of disqualification.”
He added, “The court had sentenced Lakshadweep MP Mohammad Faizal to 10 years in an attempt to murder case. After this, Faizal lost his parliament membership. Faizal had approached the Kerala High Court against the trial court. The court had stayed the lower court’s decision. After this, Faizal’s parliament membership was also restored. In such a situation, if the decision had come in favor of Rahul Gandhi, it was possible that his membership would also have been restored.”
What is the case?
The criminal defamation case was filed over a remark made by Gandhi during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign. Referring to persons like Lalit Modi, and Nirav Modi, Rahul Gandhi had asked “Why do all thieves have the same surname?.”
After BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi accused Rahul Gandhi of defaming the entire Modi community with his comment, a criminal defamation case was filed against Gandhi. Subsequently, on March 23, 2023, the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrates in Surat found Rahul Gandhi guilty and sentenced him to 2 years imprisonment, resulting in his disqualification as a member of Lok Sabha.
However, his sentence was suspended on the same day, and he was granted bail, allowing him to file an appeal against his conviction within 30 days. On April 3, Rahul Gandhi approached the Surat Sessions Court to challenge his conviction and requested a stay on the verdict. However, his plea for a stay was rejected on April 20. Nonetheless, the Surat Sessions Court granted him bail until his appeal is resolved. Now, a single-judge bench of the Gujarat High Court has dismissed his plea to review the conviction in this case.