'Modi Thieves' Remark Defamation Case| Patna HC Adjourns Hearing In Rahul Gandhi's Quashing Plea Till July 4, Interim Relief To Continue

The Patna High Court today adjourned the hearing, till July 4, in Rahul Gandhi's plea to quash a criminal defamation case filed against him by the Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi in Patna Court, over his 'Modi-Theives' remark.

The interim relief of stay on proceedings granted by the HC on April 24, would continue to operate till the next date of hearing.

It may be noted that that the Patna Court is presently dealing with a criminal complaint filed by Sushil Modi (through Senior Advocate and former Add. Solicitor General of India SD Sanjay) under Section 500 of the IPC (Defamation) over Gandi's alleged remark “why all thieves share the Modi surname” made in 2019 during a political rally.

It is Modi's case that Gandhi made the derogatory remark targetting people having the 'Modi' surname. Gandhi obtained bail in the case in the year 2019. 

Hearing the case on April 24, the HC granted a stay on the proceeding before the Patna Court. This order was passed days after a supplementary affidavit was filed on behalf of Gandhi before the HC on April 18 wherein it was pleaded that since for the alleged remark, Gandhi has been tried and convicted by the Surat Court, therefore, now the case pending before the Patna Court would be hit by the doctrine of double jeopardy as enshrined under Section 300 of CrPC and Article 20 (2) of the Constitution of India.

For context, while Article 20 (2) states that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once, Section 300 (1) CrPC bars the trial of a person not only for the same offence but also for any other offence on the same facts.

In this regard, the affidavit further states that in the instant case that the fact in issue, questions of law involved and the accused are one and the same and the same speech is the foundation both in the instant as well as in the case at Surat, and the only difference is that the complainants in the two cases are different.

This affidavit was filed days after the Patna Court directed Gandhi to appear before it on April 25 to record his statements under section 313 CrPC.