In what is deemed a major setback for Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Leader will remain disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP after a Gujarat High Court rejected his request to put on hold his conviction in a defamation case over his 2019 Modi surname remark.
The High Court said the conviction is “just, proper and legal”.
Approaching the Supreme Court remains his only hope to save himself from two-year imprisonment.
Delivering the verdict, Justice Hemant Prachchak said, “Even after the present case, some more cases were filed against him. One such is filed by the grandson of Veer Savarkar. In any way, conviction would not result in any injustice.”
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The Gujarat High Court noted there were at least eight other criminal defamation complaints pending against Rahul Gandhi and that the sessions court order didn’t warrant any interference.
The High Court added that Rahul Gandhi had been seeking a stay on his conviction on “absolutely non-existent grounds”. A stay on conviction, the HC pointed out, was not a rule but an exception.
Gandhi had been handed a two-year sentence in a defamation case in Gujarat for his speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha campaign. BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi filed the case against him under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code for saying: “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”
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On April 3, Gandhi moved the sessions court against the lower court’s order. His lawyers also filed two applications, one for a stay on the sentence (or bail till the disposal of his appeal) and another for a stay on conviction till the disposal of the appeal.
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The April 20 order stated that given Gandhi’s stature as an MP and former chief of the country’s second-largest political party, he should have been more careful in his comments.
In May, the Gujarat High Court refused to grant any interim relief to Gandhi, saying the final order will be passed after the summer vacation.
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