A Surat sessions court on Thursday dismissed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s appeal seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case related to his comments about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname.

The court said that as a member of Parliament and the former president of the country’s second-largest political party, he should have been more careful with his words.

On March 23, Gandhi was sentenced to two years imprisonment in the case brought by Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Surat West MLA Purnesh Modi. In a rally in Karnataka’s Kolar ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the 52-year-old leader had asked: “Why all the thieves, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi or Narendra Modi, have Modi in their names?”

Nirav Modi is a fugitive businessman accused in the Punjab National Bank scam while Lalit Modi is former Indian Premier League chief who has been banned for life by the cricket governing body.

The Congress leader was convicted under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code. The court, however, had granted him bail and suspended his sentence for 30 days.

A day after his conviction, Gandhi was disqualified as a Lok Sabha MP under the Representation of the People Act, 1951. According to Section 8(3) of the law, a legislator sentenced to jail for two years or more stands to be disqualified from the date of conviction till six years after serving time.

Thursday’s judgement means that the politician’s suspension as a Lok Sabha member will continue.

Additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera, while refusing to stay Gandhi’s conviction, said that he should have been more careful with words considering the impact they would have on citizens. He said that a “high standard of morality” was expected from the Congress leader.

“Any defamatory words coming from the mouth of appellant [Gandhi] are sufficient enough to cause mental agony to an aggrieved person,” the court said. “In this case, by uttering defamatory words viz. comparing persons having ‘Modi’ surname with thieves would definitely have caused mental agony and harm the reputation of complainant, who is socially active and dealing in public.”

The judge also held that the Congress leader’s disqualification as an MP could not be termed as an irreversible or irreparable loss to him.

Further, the court said that it did not agree with Gandhi’s contention that he was deprived of a fair trial. “It appears from record that all opportunities were accorded to appellant for cross-examining the witnesses,” it said.

The Congress leader had also argued that the metropolitan magistrate’s decision to impose the maximum punishment on him was unduly harsh. However, the court did not agree with the contention.

“So far as imposing of maximum punishment is concerned, it would be worthwhile to observe that the appellant was not an ordinary person and was sitting MP, connected with public life,” Judge Mogera said. “Any word spoken by appellant would have large impact in mind of common public.”

Gandhi lawyer Kirit Panwala told PTI that the sessions court’s order will be challenged in the Gujarat High Court.

Will use all legal options, says Congress

At a press briefing, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that the conviction has been upheld “contrary to all basic and elementary principles of law”.

He also alleged that Gandhi’s speech had been “distorted out of recognition” to serve the ends of the complainant.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said Gandhi’s legal team will continue to use all options still available to them under the law.

The lawyer representing Purnesh Modi told reporters that the sessions court held that Gandhi’s case was not an exceptional one, ANI reported.

“The complainant is made out sufficient case...Merely being an MP is not a ground to suspend the conviction,” Advocate Harshit Toliya told the news agency.