Rahul Gandhi Convicted For Defamation In 'Modi Surname' Case, Sentenced To Two Years In Prison, Allowed 30 Days To Appeal
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2023-03-23 10:21:42
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
A Surat
court has sentenced Rahul Gandhi to 2 years in prison in a criminal defamation
case dating back to 2019. Campaigning for the 2019 general elections, the
Congress leader (then the president of the party) had said 'why do all
thieves have Modi as their surname'. While he was ostensibly referring to
Narendra Modi (whom he had also accused of being thief by coining the slogan "chowkidar chor hai"), Neerav Modi (the diamond merchant who had fled the
country after defrauding banks) and Lalit Modi (the architect of the IPL who
was accused of swindling funds by the BCCI), he unwittingly also defamed and
angered lakhs of people whose surname is Modi. This correspondent has written
then that Rahul Gandhi must apologize to the countless Modis he had offended but
he did not. The case against Gandhi was filed by BJP MLA and former Gujarat
minister Purnesh Modi.
Rahul Gandhi,
who was present in the Surat court, was granted bail by the court which
suspended the punishment and allowed him 30 days to appeal in a higher court.
As per the law, MPs and MLAs can be disqualified from membership of the
legislative house if they are sentenced to two years or more in a criminal
case. But such disqualification does not kick off immediately on pronouncement
of the judgment in case of sitting members. They have three months to appeal
and the disqualification (for a period equal to the sentence and six more
years) will be applicable if the appeal goes against them. It is obvious that
Rahul Gandhi will appeal against the sentence and the matter will finally reach
the Supreme Court.
While the
BJP welcomed the verdict and charged Gandhi with defaming an entire community,
Congress workers protested at many places in Gujarat and elsewhere in the
country. The Congress said that Gandhi will file an appeal against the verdict.
