Defamation case: Surat court rejects Rahul Gandhi’s plea for stay on conviction

Ahmedabad: A Surat sessions court on Thursday rejected the plea of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case over his 'Modi' surname remark in 2019.

Additional sessions judge Robin P Mogera rejected Gandhi’s plea for stay on conviction, said Congress leader Naishadh Desai in Surat.

Desai said Rahul would appeal in the Gujarat high court against the court verdict.

On March 23 Surat metropolitan magistrate H H Verma had sentenced the former Congress president to two years in jail in a defamation case filed by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi under Sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

A day after being convicted, Gandhi was disqualified as the Member of Parliament. Gandhi was elected as MP from Wayanad in Kerala in 2019.

Complainant Purnesh Modi had alleged that Gandhi, while addressing a poll rally in 2019, defamed the entire Modi community by purportedly saying, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”

Gandhi had on April 3 appealed against the magisterial court's order seeking a stay on the sentence and conviction till the disposal of the appeal.

During arguments on Gandhi’s appeal, his lawyers had submitted that the trial against the Congress leader was “harsh” and “not fair”.

In his submission, Gandhi said if the March 23 judgment of the trial court was not suspended and stayed, it will cause irreparable damage to his reputation.

During his arguments on stay on conviction, Gandhi’ lawyer R S Cheema had termed his client’s conviction as “erroneous” and “patently perverse” and said the trial court treated him harshly after being overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP. He said that excessive sentence was contrary to the law on the subject and unwarranted in the present case which has political connotations.

Opposing Gandhi’s arguments, Purnesh Modi’s lawyer Harshit Toliya argued that his client was offended as Gandhi had made an attempt to defame the entire Modi community and people with Modi surname.

He added that Gandhi being president of Congress party then, the second largest in the country, his speech had big impact on people of India. Toliya further argued that Gandhi was facing similar defamation cases in other states.

Toliya also accused Gandhi of making “unfair and contemptuous comments” against the court through his aides, associates, and leaders of his party and others following his sentencing. He also claimed that Rahul is a “repeated offender”.

“The accused (Gandhi) is in the habit of making such defamatory and irresponsible statements which may either defame others or may hurt the feelings of others, in the name of freedom of speech and political criticism and dissent,” stated Purnesh Modi’s affidavit.

While convicting Gandhi the court on March 23 had observed, “The present complaint is not limited to defaming people with Modi surname or the community. The complainant, (Purnesh Modi) anguished by the remark had filed the complaint. Moreover, in his speech the accused (Gandhi) called Narendra Modi as ‘thief’ (chor) and compared him with economic offenders like Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Malya. He could have stopped his speech at that point and discussed these people in the speech.”

“But, the accused, with intention of defaming people with Modi surname and those known by the name of Modi, said in his speech “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” the court observed.