JNS: Surat court, on Thursday rejected Rahul Gandhi’s petition to put a stay on his conviction in the defamation case over his remark tagging the surname “Modi”.
On 3 April, Rahul approached the sessions court for appeal against the lower court’s order. The additional session’s judge R P Mogera rejected his plea.
At this time, Rahul is out on bail, but he will not be reinstated to his position as an MP. After being found guilty of making the comment in a lower court in Surat and being sentenced to two years in prison for it, he was barred from serving in the Lok Sabha
While campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Rahul had said that, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname.”
Purnesh Modi, a BJP leader, filed a lawsuit alleging that candidate Rahul had slandered the entire Modi community.
The Surat court condemned him in the criminal defamation case. Rahul was sentenced to two years in prison for his alleged comment during the 2019 parliamentary election campaign, “Why do all thieves have Modi surname?”
Later, the punishment was suspended for 30 days so Rahul may appeal to a higher court. He was granted bail on bond by the court on 23 March.
Meanwhile, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “We will continue to avail all options still available to us under the law.”
