Surat court admits Rahul Gandhi’s appeal in criminal defamation case, grants him bail

NEW DELHI,APR 3: The Surat Sessions court on Monday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi after he filed an appeal against the court ruling convicting him in a defamation case over his 2019 remark about the surname Modi. It has also issued a notice on the plea seeking a stay on his conviction.

The next hearing has been fixed for April 13.

Minutes after the hearing on Monday, Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi, “This is a fight against ‘Mitrkaal’ to save democracy. In this struggle, truth is my weapon, and truth is my support!” Gandhi has been taking the ‘Mitrakaal’ jibe at the central government, accusing it of working to benefit its “crony capitalist friends”.

The 52-year-old Congress leader reached Surat via a scheduled commercial flight on Monday afternoon along with sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate H H Varma in Surat had on March 23 convicted Gandhi and sentenced him to two years in jail in a 2019 criminal defamation case filed against him over his “Modi surname” remarks.

The case was filed against Gandhi on a complaint by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi for the Congress leader’s alleged remarks “How come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” Gandhi, who had served as an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, made the remarks while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019 during the Lok Sabha elections campaign.

The court had held the Congress leader guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500.

It had also granted him bail and suspended the sentence for 30 days to appeal in a higher court.

The former Congress chief was on March 24 disqualified from the Lok Sabha following his conviction.

Following his disqualification, Gandhi would not be able to contest elections for eight years unless a higher court stays his conviction and sentence.

The sentence of two years invited his disqualification from the membership of Parliament under provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The RP Act holds that an MP or a member of legislative Assembly (MLA) convicted for any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years shall be disqualified from the date of conviction.

-The New Indian Express