India: Gujarat High Court to resume hearing Rahul Gandhi’s defamation case appeal on May 2

The Gujarat high court announced on Saturday (April 29)that it will continue hearing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's plea on May 2 in which he is contesting the Surat sessions court's decision to deny a stay of his conviction in a criminal defamation case stemming from his remark regarding the "Modi surname."

Gandhi filed a criminal revisionapplicationwith the Gujarat high court, challenging the ruling of the sessions court. Justice Hemant Prachchhak took up the case, as reported by PTI.

Gandhi's readmission as a member of Parliament could be possible if the high court accepts his appeal.After the case was brought before the high court judgeJustice Gita Gopi on Wednesday for an urgent hearing, she decided not to hear it.

The court of Justice Prachchhak was then given the case.Gandhi is being represented in the high court by renowned attorney and Congress politician Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

On March 23, a metropolitan magistrate's court in Surat condemned the former president of the Congress to two years in prison after holding him guilty of violating Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 499 and 500 (criminal defamation) in a case brought by Gujarat MLA for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Purnesh Modi in 2019.

Gandhi, who was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 from the parliamentary constituency of Wayanad in Kerala, was later declared ineligible to serve as an MP under the terms of the Representation of the People Act.

He filed a petition for a stay of the conviction along with a challenge to the ruling before the Surat sessions court.

The judge on April 20 granted him bail but declined to stay the conviction.Gandhi's "How come all thieves have Modi surname" comment caused Purnesh Modi to initiate a criminal defamation lawsuit against him.

Important points on the defamation case

-Senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for RahulGandhi, told the High Court that "very serious ex-facie vitiating factors of the trial raise grave apprehensions about the process of trial that led to the conviction."

-In his appeal in the Surat court to freeze the conviction,Gandhi said the court treated him harshly and was overwhelmingly influenced by his status as an MP.

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-The judge disagreed with Gandhi's contention and said he had "failed to satisfy that by not staying the conviction and denying an opportunity to contest the election, an irreversible and irrevocable damage will be caused to him".

-Aiming at the Prime Minister over his surname, which he shares with fugitive businessmen Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, Rahul Gandhi stated during the Lok Sabha election campaign in 2019: "How come all thieves have the common surname Modi."

(With inputs from agencies)

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