Rahul Gandhi filed a motion in Surat’s session court to vacate the Magistrate’s order indicting him in the defamation lawsuit for making a remark that was perceived as disrespectful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Rahul Gandhi, the Congress leader, showed up in a Gujarat court today to apply for his conviction and two-year sentence in a defamation case from 2019. As per the latest reports coming in sessions court has extended Mr Gandhi bail and the next hearing in the case is scheduled for 13th April 2023.
Rahul Gandhi was anticipated to file a petition in the Sessions Court of Surat to overturn the Magistrate’s decision convicting him in the defamation case for a comment deemed to be an insult to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to sources, the former president of Congress will also request a temporary reversal of the conviction, which would also reinstate his eligibility to sit in the Lok Sabha.
In addition to his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and the chief ministers of three states ruled by Congress, Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Mr. Gandhi, who was recently stripped of his status as a member of the parliament due to a court order from the Gujarati court, will attend.
Before his appearance in court, he met with his mother, Sonia Gandhi.
Also Read| Rahul Gandhi Disqualified From Lok Sabha
Last month, the 52-year-old was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison in Gujarat for a 2019 speech in which he associated PM Modi’s surname with two runaway businessmen, remarking on how the “robbers” shared identical surnames.
Purnesh Modi, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA, and erstwhile Gujarat minister submitted a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi for saying, “How come all robbers have the familiar surname, Modi?”
Gandhi received a two-year prison sentence from Chief Judicial Magistrate HH Varma in a criminal defamation case related to his comment about the “Modi surname” at a political rally in Karnataka before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The Congress leader was sentenced by the court under sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code, which addresses criminal defamation.
However, the court issued him bail for 30 days to appeal the judgement.
After being removed from office, Mr. Gandhi’s Wayanad seat in Kerala is now vacant, and the Election Commission may now declare a special election to fill it.
In response to Mr. Gandhi’s disqualification order, a divided opposition banded together to criticize the BJP for allegedly misusing central investigative agencies against rival party members.
The BJP claims the conviction is the result of an impartial jury, and party president JP Nadda accuses Mr. Gandhi of defaming the Other Backward Class (OBC) community, which is a key voting bloc for the party.
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