Rahul Gandhi Defamation Case: A court in Gujarat's Surat, on Thursday, has convicted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a 2019 criminal defamation case, filed against him over his "Modi surname" remarks, and sentenced him to two years of imprisonment. However, soon after the court granted him bail and a time period of 30 days to appeal against the quantum of punishment.
According to the information, the case was filed against Gandhi for his alleged “how come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?” He stated this while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Notably, the complaint against his remarks was lodged by BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi.
'Gandhi defamed the entire Modi community'
In his complaint, Purnesh Modi alleged that Gandhi defamed the entire Modi community with his remarks. 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, Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said that the Wayanad MP will remain present in the court (on Thursday) when it pronounces its judgment in the criminal defamation case against him.
"He has made it clear that we respect the court whatever its judgment. We will welcome our leader and show him our support. The Congress cannot be browbeaten with cases like these," Doshi added.
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The complainant demanded Gandhi's personal appearance in court
Last month, the final arguments had resumed in the case after the Gujarat High Court vacated its stay on proceedings imposed on a plea by the complainant demanding Gandhi's personal appearance.
The lawyer for the complainant argued that CDs and pen drive containing the materials on Gandhi's Kolar speech established that the Congress MP indeed made the Modi surname remarks, and his utterances defamed the community.
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Meanwhile, Gandhi's lawyer has argued that the court proceedings were "flawed" from the beginning as the procedure laid down under section 202 of the CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) was not followed.
(With PTI inputs)
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