Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Gujarat Purnesh Modi, who sued Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the criminal defamation case over ‘Modi surname’ remarks, has filed a caveat in the Supreme Court seeking that he be heard if Gandhi moves a plea challenging the High Court verdict refusing to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case.
On July 7, a single-judge bench of the Gujarat Court dismissed the former Congress president’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in the ‘Modi surname’ case.
A caveat is filed in an appellate court by a litigant who seeks an opportunity of being heard.
Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the High Court had dismissed the plea by the 53-year-old leader stating that there was no reasonable ground to stay his conviction.
Had the ruling been in his favour, he could have been reinstated as the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament.
Gandhi landed in soup after Purnesh Modi, a former minister in the Gujarat government, filed a criminal defamation case against Rahul Gandhi over his remarks at an election rally in Karnataka in 2019, when he said, “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?”
On March 23, a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation). Following the court order, he was disqualified as an MP from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala under provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
Rahul then challenged the decision in a sessions court in Surat, which also refused to stay his conviction
on April 20. The Congress leader then moved the Gujarat High Court.