The Gujarat High Court will pronounce its verdict on a petition filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi challenging his conviction by a lower court in a defamation case. The high court had reserved its order in May while refusing to grant any interim relief to Rahul.
A Surat court on March 23 sentenced Rahul to two years in jail after holding him guilty for his remarks on the 'Modi' surname. The conviction led to his disqualification as the MP from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Congress leader was released on bail by the Surat court to enable him to challenge the verdict. He moved the high court after a sessions court declined to stay his conviction.
The case pertains to a complaint filed by Gujarat BJP leader Purnesh Modi who had accused the Congress leader of defaming the entire Modi community through his remarks. Rahul, during an election campaign at Kolar in Karnataka in 2019, had remarked “how come all thieves have Modi surname”.
Purnesh Modi was a minister in the first tenure of the Bhupendra Patel government. The ruling party legislator was re-elected from the Surat West Assembly seat in the December elections.
The metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat sentenced the Congress leader to two years in jail on March 23 under sections 499 and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Meanwhile, in a similar case, the Jharkhand High Court on July 4 exempted Rahul from personal appearance in a Ranchi court in the Modi surname case.
Justice S.K. Dwivedi also ordered that no coercive steps be taken against Gandhi.
The senior Congress leader had moved the high court challenging the Ranchi MP-MLA court order that had directed him to appear in person in a defamation case.
The case will be heard again on August 16.
