Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat High Court’s verdict declining to stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case filed by BJP leader Purnesh Modi. The appeal was filed by Gandhi through advocate on record Prasanna S.
In a massive setback for Gandhi, on July 7, the Gujarat High Court dismissed Gandhi’s plea for a stay on his conviction, observing that “purity in politics” is the need of the hour. Had the court stayed his conviction, it would have reinstated him as a Member of Parliament.
On March 23, the metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat sentenced the former Congress president to two years in jail after convicting him under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation). The case was filed by Purnesh Modi for his “How come all thieves have Modi surname” remarks, made at an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Following his conviction, he was disqualified as a Member of Parliament under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act.
Gandhi had then approached the sessions court challenging the earlier order, along with an application seeking a stay on his conviction. While granting him bail, the sessions court on April 20 refused to stay the conviction, following which, he had knocked on the doors of the high court.
Delivering a 125-page verdict, Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the Gujarat High Court said that Gandhi was already facing 10 criminal cases across India, adding the order of the lower court was “just, proper and legal” in handing over a two-year jail term to Gandhi for his remarks.
The judge maintained it was not an “individual-centric defamation case”, but something which affected a “large section of the society”. The court also noted Gandhi took Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name in his speech to “add sensation” and with an intention to “affect the result” of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi, the complainant in the defamation case against Gandhi, has also filed a caveat in the top court seeking that he be heard if the Congress leader moves a plea challenging the high court verdict in the surname case.