- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Weeks after he took on the Narendra Modi government in the UK, Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was on Thursday (23) found guilty in a 2019 criminal defamation case over a remark made about the prime minister’s Modi surname in Surat in the western state of Gujarat.
The 52-year-old parliamentarian from Wayanad in the southern state of Kerala was sentenced to two years in prison. However, he was granted bail and his sentence was suspended for 30 days to let him appeal against the decision in a higher court.
The case was filed against Gandhi by BJP lawmaker from Gujarat and the state’s former minister Purnesh Modi after Gandhi remarked at a rally in the southern Indian state of Karnataka ahead of the 2019 general elections, “How come all thieves have the common surname Modi?”
The former Congress president was given the sentence by a court in Surat. The court of chief judicial magistrate HH Varma, which held Gandhi guilty under Indian Penal Code sections 499 and 500, also granted him bail and suspended the sentence to enable him to appeal in the higher court, Gandhi’s lawyer Babu Mangukiya said.
As per the Representation of the People Act, a person sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.
Gandhi was present in the court when the verdict was pronounced.
Reacting to the verdict, Purnesh Modi said he welcomed the verdict.
The final arguments resumed in the case last month after the Gujarat High Court vacated its stay on proceedings imposed on plea by the complainant demanding Gandhi’s personal appearance.
Gandhi had last appeared before the Surat court in relation to the case in October 2021 to record his statement. Before that, the Congress MP had appeared in the court to plead not guilty to charges levelled against him.
Earlier in the day, Gujarat Congress leaders, including state party president Jagdish Thakor, legislature party leader Amit Chavda, senior leader Arjun Modhwadia, All-India Congress Committee in-charge of Gujarat Raghu Sharma, were at Surat airport to receive Gandhi.
A huge number of party functionaries had also assembled at various spots in the city as a show of strength and support for Gandhi, with posters extolling him as ‘Sher-e-Hindustan’ (lion of Hindustan) and placards declaring that the “Congress will not bow before the dictatorship of the BJP” on display.
(With PTI inputs)
