SC to hear Rahul Gandhi’s plea against conviction in defamation case on July 21
The politician was sentenced to two years in jail by a Gujarat court for defaming people with the Modi surname in his 2019 speech.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said that it will hear Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking stay on his conviction in defamation case on July 21, reported Live Law.
Gandhi had moved the Supreme Court on July 15 against a Gujarat High Court order that refused to put on hold his conviction and a two-year jail term in a case related to his speech ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in which he had referred to thieves as having the surname Modi.
The conviction had led to Gandhi’s immediate disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP under Representation of the People Act, 1951. If his conviction is not stayed, Gandhi will have to complete his jail term of two years. The politician will also be prohibited from contesting elections for the next six years.
On Tuesday, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Gandhi, mentioned the matter before the Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who agreed to list the matter on July 21.
In his speech during an election rally in 2019, Gandhi had pointed out financial defaulters – Lalit Modi, the former Indian Premier League chief banned for life by India’s cricket governing body, and Nirav Modi, a fugitive businessman accused in the Punjab National Bank scam.
He had asked why all such defaulters had the Modi surname. He had also taken a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly covertly supporting such businessmen.
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Purnesh Modi had filed a complaint against the former Congress chief in Gujarat claiming that Gandhi had defamed 13 crore people living in India with the Modi surname.
On July 7, Justice Hemant Prachchhak of the Gujarat High Court said in his order that a stay on conviction is not a rule but an exemption to be resorted to in rare cases.
In his plea to the Supreme Court, Gandhi has contended that if the verdict is not stayed, it would contribute to the “systematic, repetitive emasculation of democratic institutions and the consequent strangulation of democracy which would be gravely detrimental to the political climate and future of India”.
The plea has also pointed out that the High Court has held his speech to be “an act of moral turpitude”, inviting the maximum punishment of two years for the criminal defamation crime. Gandhi submitted that a satirical statement made in a political context cannot be characterised as a morally depraved act.