Surat Court on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking an interim stay on his conviction in a defamation case that resulted in his disqualification as an MP from the Lok Sabha.
On March 23, 2023 a Surat court convicted and sentenced Gandhi to two years in jail for his 2019 remark “how come all the thieves have Modi as their common surname”. The court's decision to convict Gandhi came on a plea filed by BJP leader Purnesh Modi.
Upholding the conviction, the court said that a politician of Rahul Gandhi's "stature" should have been more careful with his words, which would have a large impact on the minds of people.
Any defamatory words from him are sufficient enough to cause mental agony to aggrieved persons, it said.
The court noted that by uttering defamatory words viz. comparing persons having surname 'Modi' with thieves would definitely have caused mental agony and harm the reputation of complainant, who is socially active and dealing in public.
The court’s decision comes on Gandhi’s appeal against his conviction from a local Surat court. Challenging his conviction, Gandhi said he was subjected to an “unfair trial” and BJP leader Purnesh Modi’s criminal defamation complaint against him was politically motivated. Modi’s April 15, 2019 complaint was made in “hot haste” with a view to using it for electoral purposes in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
This is a developing story.