In a major setback for Rahul Gandhi, a Gujarat court today denied his request to stay his conviction in a defamation case stemming from his 2019 “Modi surname” remark.
Rahul Gandhi will not be able to become a member of Parliament again for the time being.
Rahul Gandhi had asked for a stay of proceedings to appeal the court’s decision to sentence him to two years in prison. The Congress leader claims that the trial court mistreated him and was greatly influenced by the fact that he was an MP.
Rahul Gandhi failed to show that he would suffer irreparable harm if the conviction was not overturned and he was denied the chance to run for office, according to trial court judge Robin Mogera.
The Supreme Court was also cited by the judge in support of the idea that decisions regarding the stay of convictions should be made carefully and “not casually and mechanically… that will shake public confidence in the judiciary.”
Rahul Gandhi, 52, was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in Gujarat on March 23 for his speech during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign. Purnesh Modi, a BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister, filed the case against Rahul Gandhi, asking, “How come all thieves have the common surname, Modi?” Mr Gandhi was granted bail for 30 days to appeal the verdict by the lower court.
Mr Gandhi’s Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, Wayanad, is vacant and set for by-elections. His disqualification as an MP could have been reversed if the court had paused the conviction today.
According to Judge Mogera, Rahul Gandhi made “some defamatory comments against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in public and further compared the persons having a ‘Modi’ surname with thieves, and the complainant is also having a Modi surname.”
“The Appellant was not a common person but was a sitting Member of Parliament involved in public life. The judge claimed that the general public would take the appellant’s words seriously and that a “high standard of morality” was expected of someone of his calibre.
Mr. Gandhi appealed the judgment of the lower court to the Sessions Court on April 3. A sentence stay application and a conviction stay application were both submitted by his attorneys, both of which were pending the outcome of his appeal.
The leader of the Congress argued that if the order was not suspended, his reputation would suffer “irreparable damage” and that the sentence was excessive and illegal. He further asserted that his sentence was written in a way that would prevent him from holding elective office in the legislature.
The judge stated that he did not agree that Mr Gandhi was not given a fair trial. During the debate, BJP MLA Purnesh Modi called Mr Gandhi a “repeat offender” in response to Mr Gandhi’s request.
