Rahul Gandhi Moves High Court Against Surat Court’s Decision

Rahul Gandhi moves to the Gujarat High Court against the Surat court’s decision to uphold his conviction

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, appealed to the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday over the Surat court’s decision to not grant a stay of the implementation for his criminal defamation conviction.

Political Vendetta?

Congress leaders as well as supporters are claiming from day 1 that this conviction on Rahul Gandhi is a politically motivated move by BJP after the former asked questions on Gautam Adani in the parliament and raised blames on the Prime Minister for giving unfair advantage to Adani for his business empire.

Since the complainant is a BJP leader himself and the sentence given to Rahul Gandhi is the maximum that can be given in such a case questions are arising behind the motivation of his conviction that resulted in his suspension from the Parliament.

Rahul’s parliamentary membership was suspended

Gandhi petitioned the High Court to overturn the Surat Sessions Court’s decision to refuse to stay the conviction on April 20. A stay of execution could allow Gandhi to return to the Lok Sabha. The moment the magistrate court found him guilty and sentenced him to two years in prison in the defamation case last month, his membership in Parliament as the representative of Wayanad in Kerala was suspended.

Gandhi was given regular bail while his appeal is pending, even though additional sessions judge Robin Mogera declined to overturn his decision to convict him.

What Rahul’s lawyer said

Pankaj Champaneri, Gandhi’s lawyer, acknowledged making a high court application. He declared, “I sent the scanned copies to the high court today. The signed application will be submitted in hard copy the following day.” Following a criminal defamation lawsuit brought by BJP leader Purnesh Modi against the Congressman, Gandhi was given a two-year prison sentence on March 23 under Sections 499 and 500 of the IPC.

The revision application was submitted under CrPC Section 397 at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, according to attorney BM Mangukiya, primarily because the two-year sentence for criminal defamation is excessive and Gandhi’s loss of membership in the Lower House of Parliament was caused by irreparable harm.

Statement of the Additional Court on a request for a stay

Gandhi’s request for a stay of execution was denied by Surat Court of Additional Sessions Judge Robin Mogera on April 20. According to Mogera, “If this authority is applied informally and manually, it will have significant effects on people’s thinking of the justice system as a whole, and a decision like this could undermine confidence among citizens in the judicial system.”

Regarding the case

In response to a complaint brought by Surat West MLA Purnesh Modi regarding Gandhi’s remark that “Why do all thieves have the name, Modi?”

Gandhi was given a two-year sentence of simple imprisonment for criminal defamation on March 23 by a Surat magistrate court for remarks he made in 2019 during an election rally in Kolar, Karnataka.