Modi Surname Case: Gujarat HC to Deliver Verdict on Rahul Gandhi’s Plea for Stay on Conviction Today – News18

The Gujarat High Court will today announce its verdict regarding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a criminal defamation case related to his remark about the Modi surname.

According to the causelist released by the High Court on Thursday, Justice Hemant Prachchhak will deliver the verdict at 11:00 am.

If a stay on conviction is granted, it would open the way for Gandhi’s reinstatement as a Member of Parliament. In May, Justice Prachchhak, while hearing Gandhi’s plea, declined to provide interim relief, stating that a final order would be issued after the conclusion of the summer vacation, which ended three weeks ago.

During a hearing on April 29, Gandhi’s lawyer argued that a maximum punishment of two years for a bailable, non-cognizable offense could result in his client losing his Lok Sabha seat “permanently and irreversibly,” which would have a “very serious additional irreversible consequence to the person and the constituency he represents.”

On March 23, a metropolitan magistrate’s court in Surat convicted the former Congress president under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for criminal defamation in a 2019 case filed by Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Purnesh Modi, sentencing him to two years in jail.

Following the verdict, Gandhi, elected to the Lok Sabha from Wayanad in Kerala, was disqualified as MP under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act. Gandhi challenged the order in a sessions court in Surat along with an application seeking a stay on the conviction. While granting him bail, the court, on April 20, refused to stay the conviction, after which he approached the HC.

Surat West MLA Purnesh Modi filed a criminal defamation case against Gandhi over his “how come all thieves have Modi as the common surname?” remark made during an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, 2019.