Congress leader Rahul Gandhi moved the Supreme Court on Saturday challenging an order of the Gujarat High Court which had refused to stay his conviction in a defamation case over his “Modi surname” remark. Rahul filed the petition through advocate on-record Prasanna S.
A Surat court had on March 23 sentenced Rahul to two years in jail after holding him guilty for his remarks on the ‘Modi’ surname. The conviction led to his disqualification as the MP from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Congress leader was released on bail by the Surat court to enable him to challenge the verdict. He moved the high court after a sessions court declined to stay his conviction.
The high court in its order on July 7 refused to stay his conviction, noting that staying conviction is not a rule and that same must be exercised in rare cases. Justice Hemant Prachchhak said that there are 10 criminal cases pending against him (Rahul Gandhi). He also observed that more cases were filed against him after this case.
“Representatives of people should remain of clear character. One such is filed by grandson of Veer Savarkar in a court of Pune as accused used defamational (sic) terms against Veer Savarkar in Cambridge. In another case, complaints were also filed in a court in Lucknow,” said the judge.
The case pertains to a complaint filed by Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi who had accused the Congress leader of defaming the entire Modi community through his remarks. Rahul, during an election campaign at Kolar in Karnataka in 2019, had remarked “how come all thieves have Modi surname”.
Purnesh Modi was a minister in the first tenure of the Bhupendra Patel government. The ruling party legislator was re-elected from the Surat West Assembly seat in the December elections. Meanwhile, in a similar case, the Jharkhand High Court on July 4 exempted Rahul from personal appearance in a Ranchi court in the Modi surname case.
