Gujarat High Court: Rahul Gandhi's Plea Seeking Stay On Conviction In Defamation Case Listed Before Justice Hemant Prachchhak On Saturday

On April 25, Gandhi approached the Gujarat High Court seeking a stay on his conviction in the defamation case. Earlier, Justice Gita Gopi on April 26 recused herself from hearing the criminal revision petition filed by Gandhi challenging the Surat Sessions Court order dated April 20, dismissing his application seeking a stay on his conviction.

On March 23, 2023, the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Surat convicted and sentenced Gandhi to 2 years imprisonment, following which he was disqualified as the member of Lok Sabha. However, his sentence was suspended, and he was also granted bail on the same day to enable him to move an appeal against his conviction within 30 days.

On April 3, Gandhi approached the Surat Sessions Court assailing his conviction and further seeking a stay on his conviction, which was rejected on April 20. However, Surat Sessions Court on April 3 granted bail to Gandhi till disposal of his appeal.

Background

BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint under Sections 499 and 500 of IPC against Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks stating that it has defamed all people with the ‘Modi’ surname while addressing a rally at Kolar in Karnataka ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The remarks had been video graphed by the video surveillance team and video viewing team duly notified by the office of Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer, Kolar District.

Gandhi has maintained that there was no malafide intention on his part when he made the statement in question.