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.
In his reply before the apex court, Rahul said he “maintains and has always maintained that he is not guilty of offence and that the conviction is unsustainable and if he had to apologise and compound the offence, he would have done it much earlier”.
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.
Rahul said respondent Purnesh Modi “had not personally heard” him “make the disputed speech” and that his case “was merely filed on the basis of a WhatsApp screenshot of an IANS Article from which the” latter “conveniently drew his own contexts to the speech and thus, it is not wrong to say that the same was proceeded on mere assumptions and conjectures from the very inception”.
Also Read: Rahul Gandhi defamation case: Gujarat High Court reserves verdict in plea seeking stay on conviction
“The respondent further fails to disclose the source of the said WhatsApp message for reasons best known to him”, he added.
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.
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 Rahul 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.
Also Read: Jharkhand HC: No coercive action against Rahul Gandhi in Modi surname 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.
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.