Rahul Gandhi’s appeal asks magistrates’ court to stay conviction in criminal defamation case against him
Post Date – 11:30 PM, Wednesday – 4/26/23
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Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court judge Gita Gopi on Wednesday recused himself from hearing a plea filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The appeal asked the district court to stay his conviction in a criminal defamation case against him.
Gandhi’s appeal was brought up before single judge Justice Gopi, who responded “not before me” and advised advocates to contact the acting chief justice of the high court, who could assign another judge to hear the appeal. Earlier, a session court in Surat rejected Gandhi’s April 20 request to the district court to stay his conviction. In a detailed order, the session tribunal ruled that Gandhi’s disqualification would not cause him irreversible damage and refused to grant provisional approval. comfort.
case background
The now disqualified MP from Wayanad, Kerala state was convicted by a district court on March 23 for making the controversial statement that “all thieves have the last name Modi”. Gandhi made the statement during a 2019 political campaign in Kolar, Karnataka, linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi . He had said, “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi. How come all the thieves have the last name ‘Modi’?”
Punesh Modi, a former member of the Legislative Assembly of the Bharatiya Janata Party, objected to this, saying that Gandhi insulted and defamed Modi’s surname. The Surat Magistrates Court accepted Purnesh Modi’s contention that Gandhi deliberately insulted someone with the “Modi” surname.
In his 168-page judgment, Judge Hadirash Varma said Gandhi should exercise restraint since he was an MP and his speech had more influence. “The defendant referenced the surname of the current Prime Minister Narendra Modi to satisfy his political greed and insulted and defamed 130 million people with the surname ‘Modi’ living across India,” the judge opined.
Gandhi was disqualified last month after receiving two years in prison, the maximum possible sentence in a criminal defamation case, enough to ban him from parliament. The law states that if an MP is convicted of any crime for two years, their seat will become vacant. Only if the conviction is suspended can a person continue to serve as an MP.
In an appeal to the Surat court earlier this month, Gandhi argued that the trial court had treated him harshly, which was largely influenced by his status as an MP. However, Justice Robin Mongla disagreed, stating that Gandhi “failed to demonstrate that failure to uphold the conviction and deprive him of the opportunity to stand for election would cause irreversible and irreparable harm to him.”
